Ranma & Akane Costume Party
by FlameDancerStar
Summary: Halloween Special for Ranma and Akane. Akane wants things to change but not sure how to make it happen. The gang gets invited to a Halloween Costume Party. Can Akane convince Ranma to go with her or will she just make a fool of herself in her daring outfit.
1. Chapter 1 - Just Another Normal Thursday

**10/16/17**

 **This is only my second story and fist for Ranma 1/2 - let me know what you think of it. I would love to get some comments to know how I am doing.**

 **This is going to be a Halloween special story. I will have it completed by Halloween, so expect regular updates in order to make the deadline. Not sure how long it will be as I don't want to rush it but I also don't have a lot of time. I hope you all like it thought.**

 **Like everyone says, I do not own Ranma 1/2 or its characters.**

 **~~OO~~**

Beep Beep Beep - Akane smashed her alarm clock into bits then rolled over onto her side to continue staring at the wall. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, nor any night recently in the past few weeks since the latest failed wedding attempt. ' _I just can't take this status quo anymore. Something has to change around here. If it wasn't for all those stupid 'fiancées' Ranma and I would be married right now. I would be waking up in Ranma's arms right now, but instead here I am alone again and the only physical interaction we have is when he is being an idiot and I slug him into next week. We haven't even had a moment to talk about just how close we came to getting married, let alone finish discussing what I know I heard him say to me at Jusenkyo yet he refuses to admit to say. I have to do something to shake things up around here or nothing will ever change, but what can I do?'_ Sighing and throwing back the covers Akane got out of bed to get dressed for the day.

Akane soon joined the rest of the family around the breakfast table and took her normal seat next to Ranma. Over the last few weeks since the failed wedding attempt everyone was trying to walk on eggshells whenever Akane and Ranma were in the room, but in the last few days things had started to slip back into its normal pattern. Ranma even started to pick on Akane like usual and Akane had started making a Ranma shaped pancake every morning at the breakfast table with her mallet. This morning appeared to be shaping up to be no different.

"Yo, Akane! No morning run again today? You better watch out or your thick thighs are going to get even bigger than they already are." Ranma joked and chuckled to himself as he waited for Akane to get angry and chase him around the breakfast table yelling 'Ranma You Jerk!". He knew he shouldn't mess with her like that as he was well aware her thighs were not thick but instead the most shapely and beautiful legs around. But he couldn't help it. Seeing the spark in her eyes as she came after him was the most glorious sight he could think of, and nothing got his heart racing like it did when his fiancée's full attention was focused completely on him. Who cares if it meant he got smacked around a bit in the process, it's not like he didn't know how to take a hit or two.

However Ranma was stunned silent, as was the rest of the family, when Akane just casually sat down in her seat with a "Good morning to you too, Ranma" in response to his comment. Clearly she was living on another planet right now.

"Earth to Akane. You going to join us here today?" Nabiki asked before taking a drink of her morning coffee and taking in the obviously distracted state of her sister.

"Huh, oh yeah sorry. I was just thinking. So what did I miss?" Akane asked as Kasumi brought in the breakfast dishes.

"Not much, Akane." Kasumi said with her normal sweet smile. "Now eat up all of you or you will be late for school.

The rest of breakfast Akane didn't respond to any of Ranma's normal teasing as she appeared to be deep in thought While this seemed to annoy Ranma that he couldn't get a rise out of her, the rest of the family enjoyed a relatively peaceful meal which was quite rare in the Tendo household. Nabiki however just watched her sister trying to pick up any small clue to explain her strange behavior.

On the walk to school Akane continued to be deep in thought and Ranma just watched her from his spot atop the fence. After they had gone about halfway in complete silence Ranma couldn't take it any longer. He jumped down in front of her as it appeared the only way to get her attention was to get directly in her face.

"Akane, what's up with you today. You haven't said one word the whole walk and you have hardly notice anyone or anything all morning. Did something happened that I should know about?" Ranma asked as he eyed her up and down looking for any noticeable bruises or injuries to help explain her odd behavior.

"Huh, what's that?" Akane asked as she shook her head to clear her thoughts and attempted to side step around him to keep walking. "Oh nothing is wrong Ranma. I have just been doing some...thinking."

"Thinking? Thinking about what?" Ranma asked while jumping back in front of her trying to keep her from proceeding on towards school and shutting him out again.

"Well... about how everything has seemed to go back to normal in the last few weeks, you know since that last wedding attempt. I mean basically nothing has changed much between us since you first came here a few years ago, well except you only had one fiance when you first got here and now you have three, plus one stalker." Akane looked up into Ranma's eyes with a sad hurt expression and let out a sigh. "Look I mean aren't you tired of all this craziness around here? We are constantly fighting and the few times we aren't one of your other fiancees come around to mess with us. I am just tired of all the fighting and us being upset with each other. We almost got married a few weeks ago and someone could have really gotten hurt during that mess. And I don't know about you but I don't to go through that anymore. I don't like being angry all the time. I really think something needs to change around here."

Ranma just stared at Akane as he wasn't quite sure how to respond. He agreed that all the madness that followed them around, mainly due to the other 'fiancées', was quite annoying but he wasn't sure how to solve it, well aside from telling them all in no uncertain terms that he didn't want anything to do with them and had absolutely zero desire to marry them. But to do that he would not only have to admit to himself his feelings but he would have to make them know to everyone else which would mean a lot of people would be angry with him and he may lose a few friends along the way. Not to mention the chance that Akane may not feel the same way about him.

Just as Ranma was starting to stutter a response they heard the familiar 'Ring Ring' of Shampoo and her delivery bike. Ranma had just enough time to push Akane out of the way of the bike and jump to the side himself as it came crashing down in between them.

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo yelled as she tossed her bike aside to jump onto Ranma. "You skip school and take Shampoo on date, yes?"

"Ah man! Come on Shampoo. Let me go. Why do you have to tackle me everyday." Ranma shouted while he tried to escape the death grip she had on him.

Akane looked upon the all too familiar scene and let out a small sigh. ' _I swear every time we try to have an serious conversation someone has to come along and interrupt us. How are we ever supposed to figure out whatever this is between us if we can't have more than a five minute conversation alone.'_

While Ranma continued to struggle to release himself from Shampoo and Akane watched in annoyance, Ukyo joined the group and tried to insert herself between Ranma and Shampoo. The three of them appeared completely oblivious to anything else going on around them at the moment. Akane realizing the time decided to go on and head towards school alone. "Well I am off guys. I will see you at school Ranma." She waited a moment to see if anyone would respond and when no one did she let out a big sigh and turned to continue her walk to school.

As soon as Akane entered the gate of Furinkan High Kuno leapt from behind a tree in front of Kagome with a single red rose in his hand.

"Ah the fair Akane Tendo had graced us with her presence again today. I see that you have finally rid yourself of the vial Ranma Saotome, come and we shall date today."

As Kuno offered her the rose and droned on in his attempt to be poetic, Akane's friends Yuka and Sayuri noticed her arrival and waved in hello.

"Hey I don't see Ranma with Akane today." Yuka said to her friend as they watch Kuno as he painfully declared his undying love for Akane yet again this morning.

"Maybe they had a fight on the way to school or something. So just another normal Thursday." Sayuri said with a chuckle. "Man Akane sure is being patient with Kuno today. Normally she just knocks him across the yard and doesn't look back." She noted with a bit of confusion in her voice.

"Maybe she is working on her temper." Yuka said and then both girls broke into laughter at the possibility of their friend thinking before hitting.

Akane narrowed her eyes at the upper classman and placed her hands on her hips as he droned on. "Upperclassman Kuno. How many times do I have to tell you I will never date you before you get it through that thick skull of yours. I don't care if Ranma is here or not I will not date you, EVER!. Now if you please, move out of my way before I am late for class. Or I will be forced to move you."

Kuno raised his head to look at her from his bow, with utter confusion across his head. "But my dear Akane. I thought that with Ranma gone the spell he cast on you to keep us apart would be broken." Standing up straight he continued, "I will hunt him down and destroy him so we can finally be together my love." Kuno said as he reached up and grabbed her hands.

Yuka and Sayuri's jaws hit the ground as they saw Kuno take Akane's hand and she just stood there staring at him. "He is touching her and she hasn't hit him yet, what is going on?" Sayuri asked.

"I am warning your Kuno. I don't want to do something I will regret. For the last time let go and leave me ALONE."

When Kuno made no attempt to release her Akane had finally had enough and hit him so hard into the far wall that a crack formed in the wall as Kuno slid down it to land in a crumpled heap on the ground.

"Now that is more like it." Yuka said as she watched Kuno fly across the yard. "But I wonder what was up with that just now. I haven't seen Akane use that much restraint in a long time. Something is up with her."

As two girls rushed over to join Akane as they walked into school together, Nabiki turned from her window on the second floor as she thought about what had just happened. ' _Something is definitely up with Akane today. First her head was so far in the clouds during breakfast she didn't even acknowledge Ranma and all his teasing once. Next she arrives at school without Ranma, which only ever happens when they are fighting. Then she tries to deal with Kuno by talking first instead of just slugging him. Something is going on with her and I am going to find out what.'_


	2. Chapter 2 - Invitations

**10/17/17 - Hey I told you I was going to try to post updates quickly didn't I? I have always like shorter chapters as I can get them up quicker to keep the story moving without a lot of down time, but let me know if you would prefer longer ones. Leave me a note and let me know what you think so far.**

~~OO~~

"Hey you uncute Tomboy! What's the big idea with ditching me this morning." Ranma screamed across the room at Akane as he busted into the classroom. Akane looked up from her desk to see an irate Ranma stomping towards her. He slammed his hands down on her desk and got in her face as he continued. "You could have waited or even helped me get away from them."

"Ranma you jerk. I did wait for you.. for a bit at least. And I tried to tell you I was leaving. It's not my fault you didn't hear me since you were having so much fun with all your fiancées to notice me." Akane was trying very hard to keep her cool and not throw Ranma out the window for making such a scene in front of the whole class.

"You think I like it when they attack me like that?"

"Well it's not like you ever do anything to get them to stop."

"I swear Akane, if you weren't such an uncute, pigheaded, stupid Tomboy I…..I….."

"You what Ranma?" She asked as she stared daggers at him. "Nothing. You do nothing. Just like you have done for the past few years." Akane crossed her arms and turned to look out the window as she continued. "Leave me alone Ranma. Class is going to start and I don't want to do this with you anymore."

Ranma slammed his hands down on her desk again then stood back up. He stood there staring at her trying to figure out why she was acting so strange today. Normally she would have been up in his face yelling at him or tossing him out the window or thru the wall by now. Instead she appeared to be doing everything she could to keep her cool and now wouldn't even look at him. Just as he was about to continue the teacher Miss Hinako entered the room.

"Ranma, calm down and take your seat so we can start class. Or would you rather me drain your power?" As she went to her desk and put her bag down, she watched Ranma look from her back to Akane again before deciding to take his seat. "Great now lets begin."

The rest of the morning was fairly calm for Furinkan standards. Before long it was lunch time and Ranma raced out to the yard with a plan to corner Akane once and for all and get her to tell him why she was acting all weird today. Just as he spotted her on the other side of the yard under a tree eating all alone his two friends Disuke and Hiroshi came over to intercept him. They shoved a stack of papers into his hands and dragged him in the opposite direction of Akane. As he was being lead away he noticed Akane's friends Yuka and Sayuri join her. Sighing in defeat he turned his attention to his friends and the papers he was holding.

"What's a Halloween Costume Party?" Ranma asked his friends after reading the fliers.

"Oh man it's going to be great!" Disuke exclaimed. " My parents are out of town next weekend so I decided to have a party. It is a party where everyone dresses up as someone or something else. And usually girls like to dress VERY slutty and are always up for having some fun. So you never know Ranma, maybe you and Akane can finally hook up." He joked as he elbowed his friend in the side.

"Why would I want to hook up with an uncute Tomboy like her!" Ranma yelled as a slight blush crossed his face at the idea of Akane wearing a skimpy outfit danced in his mind.

"Yeah man sure, whatever you say." Hiroshi said while shaking his head at his hopeless friend. "I really wish the two of you would just give it up already and just admit you like each other. I mean it is OBVIOUS to everyone but you two how much you guys like each other."

"Whatever, you don't know what you are talking about." Ranma huffed as he looked at the flier again. "So next weekend huh? Who all are you inviting?"

"The whole class man! This is going to be the party of the year! Now come on guys we need to get these fliers passed out. Make sure ALL the girls get one."

The three guys made their way around the yard passing out the fliers and explaining all the details. Finally they made their way over to where Akane and her friends were sitting.

"So Yuka," Daisuke said as he sat down next to her and started to turn on the charm. "You are going to come to my party next weekend right?"

"Party? What party is that?" She asked as she started to blush with how close Daisuke had gotten. He handed her a flier as Hiroshi passed one to Sayuri and Akane. "Oh a Costume Party! How fun! Of Course we will be there." She squealed in delight. "Can we bring anything?"

"No we got it covered. But you could say you will be my date. We could even do a couple costume if you like." He said as he gave her a sly wink as Hiroshi and Ranma just shook their heads at their friend.

"Oh...well…" Yuka looked at Akane and Sayuri for backup. Once Sayuri nodded in encouragement, Yuka said, "sure I guess. That sounds like fun."

"Great! We should get together this weekend and discuss costume ideas." Daisuke was beaming ear from ear as he and Yuka started to make plans for this weekend.

Hiroshi turn to Sayuri and said, "You know I almost think he decided to have this party just for an excuse to ask her out."

"Well I guess it worked." She said then leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "Now if we can only convince Ranma and Akane to go together too."

"I know right. But they are both so stubborn. How are we ever going to convince them to go together." Hiroshi whispered back.

"I think the key will be to NOT let them know they are going together till they are there." Hiroshi gave her a look that said she had lost him. She smiled at him and patted his leg, "Don't worry I will explain later."

Then she turned her attention back to Akane who was still watching Yuka and Daisuke in amazement on how easily they agreed to go to the party together. "So Akane, what do you say? Sounds like fun right? We should go too."

"Huh, what? Oh yeah I guess, it sounds fun. But I don't know….what would I wear?"

"That's easy Akane." Ranma said with his trademark smirk that said he was about to stick his foot in his mouth again. "Just put a sheet over your head and go as a ghost. It's not like you could pull off one of those cutesy outfits."

"Ranma!" All three girls shouted in unison and the two guys just shook their head at their friend.

"You should go as a donkey, since you are suck a jack ass, you Jerk!" Akane yelled as she stood up and stomped off with her friends following close behind.

""Ranma, Ranma, Ranma" Daisuke said as he shook his head in disappointment.

"WHAT!" Ranma yelled

"When are you ever going to learn how to talk to girls." Daisuke said as he threw an arm around Ranma's shoulder and started to lead him back into the school as he and Hiroshi tried to explain to him the basics on how to talk to girls without pissing them off


	3. Chapter 3 - Swings

**10/18/17** **Here is another chapter for you - three in three days? Am I on a roll or what? I may just finish this story in time. I want to do another Halloween story for Inuyash but not sure if I have time.**

 **Let me know your thoughts. I love reviews and follows.**

 **~~OO~~**

By the end of the day the whole class was talking about the upcoming party and what costumes they would be wearing. Akane was even starting to get excited about it. Her friends had been talking about none stop and made plans to get together this weekend to go shopping for outfits.

' _It will be fun to get all dressed up, I've never been to one of these parties before. I wonder if Ranma will want to go. I bet he will not want to do a really costume though. He will probably try just do a black belt Martial Artist with his workout clothes. I wonder if I could convince him to do something fun like…..Oh I don't know….maybe he could be Naruto and I could be Hinata. That way we would match but it wouldn't technically be a couple costume. Maybe I could make the costumes for us, it's not like it could be that hard….'_ Akane gathered the rest of her books from her locker as she started to leave.

Ranma watch Akane as she exited the school with the first really smile on her face she had had all day. " _I really do love when she smiles like that. I wonder what happened to put her in such a good mood. We should probably head out of here before someone comes along to ruin things. '_ He said to himself as he looked around for possible threats like Kuno that could come along to mess up her good mood.

"Yo Akane." Ranma said as he moved to walk beside her as they left the school grounds. "So what happened to get you out of your bad mood today? I haven't seen you this happy in a while." He asked as they neared the gates. "Wait, did you find out that the home-ec teacher didn't have to go to the hospital today after tasting your latest cooking project?"

"Ha Ha, funny Ranma. No she didn't get sent to hospital...this time." She mumbled that last part in embarrassment at remember how her teacher had gotten so violently ill from her last attempt that she had to be admitted to the hospital for dehydration from throwing up so much. "It was only a slight case of food poisoning so she just went home early for the day."

"So what is it then? You are in a much better mood that you were this morning."

"Nothing much...I was just thinking about how Daisuke's party next weekend may actually be kind of fun. What do you think, Ranma? You think you are going to go?" Akane asked trying to sound all nonchalant about it but her heart was racing. It looked so easy when Daisuke just blurted out his invitation to Yuka at lunch but she just couldn't get the nerve to outright ask him if he wanted to go together.

"Well I don't know?" Ranma responded as he clasped his hands behind his head as they walked out the gates. "I don't really like the idea of having to get all dressed up in some silly outfit just to go to some silly party. But then again he is one of my best friends so I guess he would be mad at me if I bailed on it."

"Yeah, he probably would be disappointed if you didn't show." Akane said as she stopped walking and turned towards Ranma. She started to lightly swinging her bag and kick the rocks at her feet as she avoided looking directly at him while she tried to find the words to say. Ranma stop walking and was watching her as she started to to fidget nervously. "You know…." Akane said as she shifted feet again and tucked some stray hair behind her ear. "It could be fun…..You know…. if we….I mean….if you want... we could….you know…..maybe…."

"Ranma-kun!" Ukyo yelled as she caught up to the pair and promptly squeezed herself in between them as she cut of Akane. She ignored the evil eye Akane gave her as she continued. "Why did you leave school so quickly? I wanted to talk to you about Daisuke's party." She said as she grabbed Ranma's arm and attempted to pull him along with her, away from Akane. "I was thinking we could go together and I wanted to talk to you about some costume ideas. I was thinking you could go as Mario and I could go as Princess Peach from that video game you like so much. Or maybe we could go old school and go as Popeye and Olive Oil. Or if you want something a bit more plain we could go as a pair of okonomiyaki chef. How about you come over to my shop and I can cook you up some food while we talk about it."

Ukyo attempted to drag a struggling Ranma along with her as Akane was glaring daggers at the two of them with her fist on her hips. "I swear," Akane said to herself. "We can't have one simple conversation without someone coming along in interrupting us." As they continued to ignore her she felt her anger rise as she yelled, "You know what I give up. I don't know why I even try anymore. Have fun planning your stupid costumes for that stupid party next week, you JERK! I don't care anymore! I'm out of here" And with that she stormed off without a look back at either of them.

"Hey Akane, wait for me!" Ranma called after her as he tried to free his arm from Ukyo's grasp. "Damn that stupid tomboy, she keeps leaving me today. Hey come on Ukyo let me go." He said as he finally managed to pull his arm free. "Look Ukyo. I don't think I am going to go. Dressing up is not really my thing you know. You should just go without me and have fun. I'll talk to you later." And with that he took off to chase after Akane.

Nabiki watched the little exchange between her sister, Ranma and Ukyo from her spot just outside the gates of school. ' _If I didn't know better I would say that it_ _almost looked like Akane was about to ask Ranma to be her date to that little costume party. I think I am going to have to arrange a little 'talk' with my sister later.'_ She thought as she took off for home to think some more on what had changed with her sister to make her be willing to take such a bold chance with Ranma.

Akane had already disappeared from sight by the time Ranma freed himself, so he took to the roof tops to get a better view of the streets as he headed toward the Tendo Dojo. A few blocks away he finally caught up with her. Just as he was about to call out to her to stop he noticed she turned off the normal path for home, so he decided instead to hang back and follow her for a bit first to see where she was going. After a few more minutes he found himself in the park and Akane sitting under a tree watching some kids play on the playground.

Slowly he made his way over to her and sat down beside her. They sat there for a while in silence watching the kids on the swings.

"You know I know I used to love the swings when I was a kid. We used to swing as high as we could and then jump off the swing and see who could go the furthest. What about you Ranma? What was your favorite part of the park growing up?"

"Well the only time my pop took me to the playground was when he wanted me to work on doing pull ups or see how fast I could get across the monkey bars or how fast I could run up the slide without using my hands. He always treated a trip to the park as just another chance to train.. I never really got much of a chance to 'play'. But I guess, if I had to chose, I would have to say the slides. But only the really big ones where you got to go really fast, not the dinky little kid ones."

"Man Ranma that sucks." She said as she turned to look at him. "I know your dad was a real jerk when you were little, but he really never let you just 'play' at the park from time to time?" She stared at him in a mixture of disbelieve and sadness at his horrible childhood. She knew his dad did a lot of terrible things to him as a kid but really he never got to just have fun at the park. She turned back to watch the kids and notice their parents had called them to leave. "Come on let's swing, I think those kids are done now."

As Akane sat down on the swing, she asked "I know it doesn't really make up for the past, but are you happy now? I mean since you came to stay with us."

Ranma sat down on the swing next to her as he thought about her question. "Well….yeah...I guess. I mean my dad is still a major pain in my ass but at least he is not dragging me all over anymore. We get to stay put in one place now, so that's cool. And I don't have to worry over if we are going to have something to eat or not." They started to pick up speed on the swings as they both were having an inner challenge to be the one to go the highest. "And I did get to meet my mom, so that is nice. Even if she does kind of drive me crazy with all her "You must be a Man among Men" junk."

Akane started to chuckle at his imitation of his mother. "Yeah she does go a bit overboard with all that stuff."

"Tell me about it." Ranma said as they started to go so high the swing set was starting to rock a little from the force. "It would be nice if they could just back off on the stupid wedding stuff instead of trying to force me into a marriage I didn't ask for or want. I wish everyone would just back off sometimes."

Akane turned her head away from him. His words stung as she realized he really didn't want to be with her. The thrill of swinging was gone and she was ready to go back home to just be alone for a while. "We should probably get going soon, or they may send out a search party for us." She said sadly.

Ranma mentally smacked himself for his stupid comment about the engagement that ruined the nice time they were having. ' _Why do I always have to go and say something stupid to upset her. The one time we manage to get away from everyone else and are actually haveing a good time together, I go and mess it all up with my stupid mouth. Great job Ranma."_ '

"Yeah, we probably should head back. But first let's do that jumping contest you mentioned. I bet I can jump further than you." Ranman said, trying to get her good mood to return.

"Oh you are on, Ranma." She said with that spark in her eye every time he challenged her. "On the count of three, ready? One…...Two…...Threeeeeeee." She screamed as they both jumped from the swings to land in a heap in the sand. Akane had managed to land a bit further than Ranma, even though Ranma denied that fact. They argued about it the rest of the way home while they discussed the possibility of Martial Arts Swing Jumping and how it could help with mid air fighting style.


	4. Chapter 4 - Balance Practice

**10/26/17 - sorry it has taken me so long to post. I have been having a lot of computer issues and haven't been able to work on it much. The chapter ended up a lot longer than I had intended so I broke it into different chapters, so you will have another update really soon. I still plan on having it completed by Halloween so don't worry. Let me know what you think.**

~~OO~~

Once Ranma and Akane got back to the Tendo Dojo they decided to do a bit of practice before dinner. It was always nice to have the family dojo to escape to after a long day. Their mutual love for the martial arts was something that had connected them from the beginning and had only strengthened their bond over the past few years. Even though Ranma refused to seriously spar with Akane, he did enjoy the times they got to practice alone. When no one was there to interrupt them they were able work in peace together. Just knowing the other was there working beside them was enough to sooth their nerves after even the most stressful of days.

After a quick change they met in the dojo for their workout. They were both working on their own katas, on opposite ends of the dojo. Akane was completely absorbed in her own routine but Ranma however, was only going through the motions by muscle memory. His attention was completely focused on Akane her her gi that had become tighter over the past year.

Even though there was no way he would ever admit openly that he was attracted to her he had definitely noticed that her gi was definitely more fitted than when they had first met. Every time she would make a strike with her arms the fabric across her chest would pull tight and expose the top of her chest briefly. When she raised her leg for a kick the fabric would hug her butt and hips showing off her beautiful curves.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her, he was mesmerized while watching her practice. The setting sun was shining in through the window hitting her like a spotlight. The golden rays illuminated her form as her natural beauty seemed to radiate off her in waves. He found himself slowly being sucked into her siren call.

As she moved from one form to the next he found himself faltering slightly in his own transitions. As her hair started to fall in front of her face and she tucked it back behind her ear, his breath hitched in his chest. As she wiped the sweat from her brow, his heart seemed to skip a beat.

' _Man is she beautiful'_ He thought as he tried once again to focus on his kata. ' _She really has improved a lot since we first met. But she needs to work on her balance if she is ever going to perfect the movements. I wish I could convince her to practice walking on the fences like I do. If she could get that down I bet she would have it overnight.'_ Ranma continued to stumble through his own kata as he studied Akane from across the room. ' _I wonder what she was going to say about Daisuke's party before Ukyo interrupted us. It almost seemed like she was going to ask if I wanted to go together to the party….no she would never do something like that. Would she? She has been acting really strange lately. It might be kind of fun though and if we went together. Maybe we could even find a way to get Ukyo and Shampoo would leave us alone…..but I really don't want to have to dress up as something silly. Maybe I could get with wearing a mask or something simple like that. At least Akane wouldn't make me wear some stupid couple costume like Ukyo was talking about or like the ideas Daisuke was telling me about for him and Yuka….there is no way I would be caught dead in any of those. Man I gotta quit thinking about this junk.'_

He quickly realized it was useless to attempt to practice anymore as he was unable to focus. So instead he decided this was going to be one of the rare times where he offered his assistance with her training.

He quietly walked over towards her and waited for her to finish, then said "You know if you work on your balance it will help you with the transitions. You seem to be faltering some during the switches because your center of balance is off a bit. I could help give you some pointers and some exercises to help with your balance control if you want."

Akane was floored, Ranma almost never offered to directly help her in her training. Occasionally she would be able to convince him to spar with her, but he never took that serious. She wandered what it would be like to seriously train with him. She knew that she had better take advantage of the offer while she could. "Are you serious Ranma? I would love it if you could help me."

They spent the next half hour working on some basic balancing skills. Ranma attempted to focus completely on her work and not on the tight gi was or how he had to sometimes catch her as she lost her balance and how she seemed to fit perfectly in his arms before he set her back down to try again.

As they stop to take a break and Ranma went back to his side of the dojo to get some water he told her, "If you keep working on this stuff, Akane and maybe give fence walking a try, here soon maybe you won't be quite such a klutz all the time." As soon as the words left his mouth he knew it would be the end of their peaceful time together and he wished more than anything he could take it back.

"Ranma you jerk! Why do you always have to ruin a nice time with your stupid comments." Akane said as she grabbed her water bottle.

"Oh come on Akane, it's not like I am wrong." Ranma said as he took a drink himself, accepting the fact that he knew this conversation would end up with her knocking him threw a wall. "I mean seriously you don't see me having as many accidents as you do."

Akane crushed the water bottle in her hands in her anger and stared at Ranma. "I swear Ranma you are the biggest jerk ever. We can't even get through one session with you you being an insensitive jerk!"

"Ranma my boy! What are you doing?" Genma said as he walked into the dojo to see what all the commotion was about. "You should be helping your fiance not fighting with her."

"Shut up you stupid old man!" Ranma yelled in frustration at now having the two of them both attacking him. "You don't know what you are talking about. I WAS trying to help that stupid Tomboy, but she had to go and get all upset just because I pointed out how much of a klutz she is."

"I swear Ranma, if you don't shut that big mouth of yours I'm going to…" Before Akane new what she was doing she was standing in front of Ranma with her hand in a fist and about to knock Ranma into next week. Ranma was just standing there with his eyes closed waiting for her to hit him. It hit her then that if she really was serious about things wanting to change then she had to start with the things she could control and that included not being so quick to always hit him. They needed to find a better way to communicate. So instead she dropped her fist and walked out of the Dojo.

After a few moments Ranma opened his eyes to see what was taking her so long and realized she had left. He looked at his father and saw him staring the door in shock. "Hey pops. What happened? Where did Akane go?"

"She left." He said in complete amazement. "It looked like she was about to hit you then...suddenly stopped and left. I have never seen her pass up a chance like that before. That was very odd." Genma said while still looking out the door into the yard.

' _Yeah odd indeed. What is up with her today.'_ Ranma thought before he headed into the house himself to get washed up for dinner.


	5. Chapter 5 - Dinner and Walks

**10/26/17 - here is another one for you, hope you like it.**

 **caia-chan - Don't worry she will defiantly be wearing something that will make Ranma re-think his actions. I am narrowing down the outfit selection, I hope you like what I pick  
**

 **jdcocoagirl - I hope the last one wasn't to unexpected. I always thought that Ranma wasn't as oblivious as he acted and would secretly be checking her out especially as they got older. and she is defiantly going to demand he step it up**

 **~~OO~~**

Dinner that evening started much the same as breakfast went that morning, with Akane sitting quietly at the end of the table oblivious to everyone else. This time however, Ranma didn't try to engage her as he knew from previous attempts that day that it was impossible to get her full attention when she was like this. Plus he wasn't eager to have her focus on him again as he wasn't sure if she was still mad about what happened in the dojo since she didn't hit him. He always knew where he stood with her because she was always so vocal and physical with her emotions. If she was mad at him she would either hit him and yell at him for being a jerk or a pervert or whatever else it was that upset her. But this new behavior of being quiet and walking away without hitting him after he made a stupid comment was completely throwing him off. So instead trying to engage her in conversation, or insult her which was more likely to have happened, he spent the majority of dinner attempting to steal glances her way while fighting off his father as he tried to steal his food.

Nabiki however was having none of this silence treatment. "So Akane, I heard about that Halloween Costume Party Ranma's friend is having next weekend." That seemed to get her sister's attention Nabiki thought as Akane looked up at her. "Are you planning on going?"

"Yeah I guess. All my friends are excited about going and are insisting that I have to go as well." Akane responded with a hint of hidden excitement in her tone Nabiki noted even though she attempted to act indifferent about it.

"What about you, Ranma? You planing on going to the party?" Nabiki asked as she refilled her tea and took a long drink.

"I haven't decided yet." Ranma said as he stuffed another bite in his mouth.

"You mean you aren't going to take Akane as your date?" Nabiki asked all nonchalant as she sipped her tea. Ranma about choked on his food and Akane's face turned as red as a tomato as she looked up at her sister.

"NABIKI!" Akane screamed while Ranma shouted, "Like I would want to go to some party with an uncute tomboy like her!"

"What's wrong Akane? I thought that was why you have been acting all strange today. You know being quiet, avoiding talking or even looking at other people. Also why Ranma has been looking at you with puppy dog eyes all during dinner. If an upcoming date isn't what has got you all messed up today, then what is it?" Nabiki asked while eyeing her sister.

"None of your business, that's what." Akane said as she quickly stood to leave, eager to get out from under the spotlight of her big sister. "Now if you all will excuse me I am going to go finish my homework."

As Akane made her way to her room she thought to herself, ' _Maybe I should talk to Nabiki about all this. She may have a way to help me working on things or an idea on how to get rid of all the crazy 'fiancees'...even if it does cost me an arm and a leg in the process it might be worth it.'_

As Akane stormed off Soun burst into tears and began yelling at Ranma for upsetting his baby girl and how he should be a man and take his fiancee to the party. Ranma had had enough for one night and decided to leave himself. As he stood outside, he could still hear Soun crying over how Ranma was mistreating his daughter again and that there would never be a wedding the way things were now. This only increase Ranma's frustration at the entire day, so he decided to escape to his personal retreat spot, the roof above Akane's room.

' _That damn Tomboy, she has done nothing but drive me nuts all day. First she completely ignores me all morning, then she leaves me while Shampoo and Ukyo are practically pulling my arms off. She all but ignores me during school, then leaves me to deal with Ukyo and her crazy couple costume ideas after school. I couldn't even get in a decent practice once we got home because she kept…distracting me. Now I get blamed for her weird behavior at dinner. Why does everyone think if Akane is in a bad mood it is automatically my fault. Trust me she is perfectly capable of getting into a bad mood all on her own.'_

Ranma was fuming while he sat on the roof looking at the stars. He realized that sitting here all alone wasn't going to help any so he thought he would check on Akane to see if he could get some answers out of her. He lowered himself from the roof to her window and just as he was about to knock he realized she was already in bed. ' _Well I guess ignoring everyone and being a pain in my butt all day takes a lot out of you.'_ Ranma hung there for a few moments contemplating going in anyway to wake her up but he finally decided to call it a night himself and deal with it tomorrow.

Akane woke the next day much like the previous one, well except she didn't have an alarm clock anymore. ' _I guess I need to go shopping for a new alarm clock this weekend. I really do need to work on not being so rough with all my stuff. I can't afford to keep replacing things.'_

"Ranma, will you be a dear and go check on Akane for me. I don't know what is taking her so long but if she doesn't hurry up and get down here you all will be late for school." Kasumi asked as she finished setting the table for breakfast.

"Yeah sure thing, Kasumi." Ranma said as he turned to go back up the stairs. As he neared Akane's door he heard her rushing around the room. "Yo Akane." He said as he knocked. "Are you going to be coming down anytime soon? If you don't hurry we are going to be late again, and I don't really feel like holding water buckets today."

"Just a second Ranma." Akane yelled and then opened the door a moment later. "Sorry about that….uh…..my alarm clock….uh….stopped working."

"Really? You want me to look at it." Ranma asked as she started to push his way into the room. "You know you probably just screwed it up again. I could…."

Akane quickly pushed him back out of the room and slammed the door behind her since she didn't want him to realize she broke another one. "That's ok Ranma, I think I can fix it later. Come on you said you didn't want to be late right?"

Once they grabbed a quick bite to eat they were off to school. Ranma opted to walk on the ground today as he thought Akane may be more inclined to finally tell him what was bugging her so much if he was next to her instead up on top of the fence. They had made it about halfway to school when Ranma decided that it was going to be up to him to bring it up since she wasn't apparently going to start talking any time soon. He didn't want to say something stupid and cause her to shut him out even more than she already had, so it took a while for him to find the right words. Finally he decided it would be best to just be direct.

"Akane, are you ever going to tell me what it is that has got you all….well….un-Akane like? It just ain't normal for you to be so quiet all the time, usually I can't get you to shut up. And then there is the fact that you didn't hit me at all yesterday. I don't know what that was about as I know you didn't lose that guerilla strength of yours. So come spill, what's your deal." He said as he rounded on her.

"I told you yesterday. Nothing's wrong, I have just been doing some…thinking. That's all." Akane responded as she tried to push him out of the way so they could keep walking.

"About what, exactly." Ranma said while he refused to budge an inch.

Akane took a deep breath and decided this was as good of a time as any to talk to him about things. Maybe he would agree that it was time for all the craziness to stop. And maybe if we could get a moment of peace to ourselves, and he doesn't ruin it by being a jerk, we could talk about the party and I could get him to want to go together.

"Well it is like I was trying to say yesterday. I am sick of all the craziness that seems to follow us around all the time. I just want it to all stop so we can try to have a normal life….well not too normal, that would be boring, a little crazy is ok." She said as she gave Ranma one of her killer smiles that lit up her face. "I know I don't help the situation, you know with how I am always so quick to blame you and hit you all the time. So I have been trying to control it some now, hence why I didn't hit you yesterday. Even though you TOTALLY deserved it!"

The two of them just stood there fidgeting and looking at each other trying to figure out what to say next. Akane took the silence as a good sign that maybe he agreed with her and decided to take the chance to bring up the party again.

"So anyway….about that party next week. You decide if you want to go yet?"

"Man why is everyone so obsessed with that stupid party. It is all anyone wants to talk about anymore." Ranma said as he turned to start walking towards school again. "Everyone talking about who they are going with and what crazy outfits they want to wear, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that stuff. Why couldn't he just have a regular party."

"Oh so you don't want to go…." Akane said sadly as she fell in step with Ranma.

Ranma noticed her change in tone and looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, "Well I didn't say that. I just don't want to have to have to wear some crazy get up. What about you? You thinking of going?"

"Yeah I think it sounds kind of fun. Yuka and Sayuri were talking about going shopping this weekend. You could come with us if you want. I promise to avoid all the over the top costumes."


	6. Chapter 6 - Making Plans

**10/27/17 - here is the latest, let me know what you think**

 **~~OO~~**

Before Ranma could reply they heard the dreaded 'Ring Ring' of Shampoo's delivery bike. The next thing they knew Shampoo had landed the bike on top of the fence and dove straight at Ranma. The force made Ranma stumble back into Akane and she lost her balance from the sudden impact and fell to the ground.

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo said as she wiggled against the struggling martial artist. "Ranma take Shampoo to costume party, yes? We go as Tarzan and Jane. Ranma big strong Tarzan and Shampoo beautiful Jane."

Ranma screamed in horror at the thought as Akane picked herself up off the ground and grabbed her bag.

"You leave clumsy, violent, kitchen wrecker at home and we have too good time together." She said as she tightened the grip she had on him which squished her body further against him.

This only added fuel to Akane's anger as she glared at the two of them. She knew how good of a martial artist Ranma was. If he wanted to he could easily avoid Shampoo's attacks. So why would he let her cling all over him every day if he didn't secretly enjoy it. She thought about throwing them both into the canal and letting Shampoo's cat side attack him, but decided against it finally as it would only mean she would have to deal with Ranma as a cat afterwards and she really didn't want to be late for school yet again.

"Damn it Shampoo! Who told you about the party!" Ranma said as he tried to push her off of him. Akane watched in horror as Ranma proceeded to grab at the Amazon bimbo.

"Shampoo get paper about party at shop yesterday from customer. You go with me, yes?"

"Ranma, can you finish fooling around with her later. We are going to be late for school if we don't leave soon."

"Who's fooling around you stupid Tomboy."

"You know what, fine Ranma, be that way. I am going to school. You have fun with Shampoo." Akane said as she left.

"Damn it Akane come back here!" Ranma yelled as he partially broke free from Shampoo.

As Shampoo clung to Ranma's arm she tried to pull him along with her in the opposite direction of school. "Forget clumsy violent girl and plan costume with Shampoo."

Ranma finally freed his arm from her grasp and started to make his getaway. "Forget it Shampoo there is no way I am going to that crazy party and I'm definitely not going with you dressed as Tarzan. I'm out of here." With that he tossed the bike at her and took to the roof tops to catch up to Akane.

As Ranma arrived at school he jumped from the rooftop to the top of the school wall and looked around for Akane. ' _I can't believe she left me with Shampoo again, two days in a row. She keeps talking about changing things but the only thing I see changing is her leaving me to deal with those psychos alone.'_ He finally spotted her just inside the gate as Kuno walked up to her and started spouting off all his crazy declarations of love yet again. Once he brought up the party Ranma knew it was time to intervene.

"...You would make the most lovely princess to my prince charming outfit. Please do me the honor in being my date for the party." Kuno said as he reached for Akane's hand.

Ranma quickly jumped between the two of them and gave Kuno a swift kick in the face to knock him backwards. "Not you too Kuno. Akane ain't going with you so you better back off."

"And just who are you to say who I am and am not going to the party with, Ranma!" Akane yelled.

"What you mean you actually WANT to go to the party with Kuno. Did you get brain damage or something after you left me this morning."

"Ranma you jerk! I never said I wanted to go with Kuno. I just said you can't just decide who I am or am not going with. Who I go with is none of your business." And with that Akane turned to go to class.

"Like HELL it's not my business" Ranma yelled at her quickly departing form. Akane turned back to stick out her tongue at him then disappeared into the building with her friends right behind her.

Kuno had finally gotten back up and charged Ranma with his bokken. Ranma danced around the yard as Kuno slashed at him as he yelled that he would free the fair Akane Tendo from his grasp. After a few minutes of dodging attacks Ranma noticed that the school yard was almost completely empty so he decided to end the fight quickly so he knocked Kuno into a tree across the yard then took off for class.

At lunch, Akane was sitting with her friends eating and making plans for their shopping trip the following day. Akane was only partially listening as Yuka told them how her and Daisuke had decided to go as Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice and Wonderland. Sayuri announced that her and Hiroshi had decided to go together as Mary Poppins and Bert. The two girls talked excitedly about what they would need to get to make their outfits perfect as Akane poked at her lunch enthusiastically. The two girls eventually turned their attention on to Akane and asked if she had decided what she was going to be.

"I am not sure what to do for a costume. Do you all any any ideas?"

"Well what does Ranma want to go as?" Yuka asked

"How should I know what he wants to go as. Heck, I don't even know if he wants to go or not. Every time I try to ask him about the party one of his annoying fiancees show up." Akane said with a pout as she looked over to where Ranma and his friends were eating lunch not too far away. "I really thought that after that last wedding attempt and the trip to China things would start to change between us. But over the last few weeks it seems like everything has just gone back to the way it was before all that."

"So you DO want to go with him don't you Akane." Sayuri declared as she gave her friend a knowing look "Don't worry about him not going to the party thought. If I know Daisuke he is over there right now forcing Ranma into going. Now we just need to make sure you have such a killer outfit that Ranma will not be able to take his eyes off of you the whole time and he will regret not asking you to go to the party together because every guy there is going to want to kill to be with you."

With a deep blush spreading across her cheeks at the thought of wearing something that would be able to capture his attention like that Akane returned her attention to her lunch as she started to push her food around in her bento box again. "You guys really think I could pull of an outfit like that?"

Yuka and Sayuri exchanged a conspiratorial look as they began to give Akane a few suggestions on what she could wear that would make Ranma regret not going with her and regret every calling her the uncute fiancee. Akane's blush spread to her entire face and down her neck at the thought of wearing some of the outfits that her friends were describing.


	7. Chapter 7 - Shopping Trip

**10/28/17 - Oh man this story just keeps going, worried about hitting my deadline as there is still so much I want to do with this story. Going to try my best to do a post a day. Let me know your thoughts. I love comments as they help encourage me to write faster**

~~OO~~

Come on Ranma, you have to go. This is going to be my first big party and I need all my best friends there." Daisuke pleaded with his friend.

"Man why did you have to have a costume party of all things?" Ranma whined for like the 10th time during lunch about his choice of party.

"Why? Because it is awesome! Girls LOVE to get dressed up in super cute and sexy outfits and parade around in front of us. I can't believe you AREN'T excited about going with Akane. I am sure she is going to look amazing."

"Wait a second. Who said I was going with her?" Ranma yelled as he about choked on his food at the assumption they were going together. "Besides it's not like she could pull off any of those sexy outfits you have been talking about. She will probably just want to go as a ghost or wear her gi or something stupid like that. She doesn't have the guts…..or body to wear one of those outfits."

"Dude you must be blind or stupid or both. Of course Akane is going to look hot in whatever she wears. She looks good everyday in her normal clothes. How is it that you are the only one in school that can't see it?" Hiroshi questioned his friend. "I swear being her fiancée is wasted on you."

"Are you really not going to ask Akane to go with you to the party?" Daisuke ask Ranma trying to deflect Ranma's attention from Hiroshi before Ranma tried to clobber him.

"Why should I. She will probably just accuse me of being a pervert or trying something if I make a big deal about going with her. Besides we will go together anyway. I mean we live in the same house so of course we are going to go there together."

"Ranma, there is a big difference between going to a party together because you are coming from the same place and actually 'Going Together', you know like a date." Daisuke said as he started gathering up his things to head back to class. "You know you really should ask her to go together before someone else beats you to it."

Ranma thought for a moment about what his friends had said. He didn't want her to go with anyone else but he just kind of assumed they would go together, they always did everything together so why would this be different. But he couldn't imagine himself actually asking her to go together flat out. Maybe he could trick their dad's into forcing them to go together then he wouldn't have to worry about her going with someone else and he wouldn't have to actually ask either.

Realizing his friends had already left him he grabbed his things and rushed to catch back up to them. "So what do you guys think I should go as anyway. Because there is no way I am wearing anything like what you two got talked into wearing."

Hiroshi and Daisuke gave each other a look, they had him right where they wanted him now. "Don't worry about it Ranma." Hiroshi said as he put his arm around his friend as they walked back inside. "We can go to the store tomorrow. I am sure we can find you something that will work."

Once school was over Akane went to meet up with Ranma in their normal spot. She explained that she was going to head over to Sayuri's house with Yuka to look up some ideas for some costumes before they went shopping the next day. "You could come with us to find a costume tomorrow if you want."

"That's ok. Daisuke and Hiroshi mentioned something about going out tomorrow also, so I will probably just tag along with them. I guess I will see you later. I'll tell Kasumi you will be home late."

Akane thanked Ranma and rushed off to find her friends as Ranma left for home. She finally spotted Sayuri by the school gate talking to Hiroshi. She yelled hello and waved but they didn't hear her. She was a bit surprised they didn't notice her, but they appeared completely absorbed in their whispered conversation. As soon as she got close they both abruptly stopped talking.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Akane asked as she joined the two of them.

"Um...nothing much. We were….just….um….talking about our costumes." Sayuri said. "We can talk about it some more later though, Hiroshi. I am sure Yuka is waiting for us by now so we got to get going, Bye." Sayuri quickly grabbed Akane's hand and dragged her away.

"Sayuri, hold up a second. What's the rush?" Akane asked as she pulled her arm back and started to walk along side her friend instead of being pulled along.

"I just don't want to keep Yuka waiting. We have a lot of work to do tonight before we go shopping tomorrow and I just want to make sure we have enough time." With that the two girls found their other friend and took off. They spent the rest of the night looking up outfit ideas for Akane and making a list of what they would need for the other girls costumes.

The next morning Akane left soon after breakfast to meet up with her friends at the tea shop just outside the shopping district. Akane always prided herself on arriving early, at least when Ranma wasn't with her, so when she arrived ten minutes early to find her friends not only already there but already at a table having tea she was a bit shocked. As she approached them they were too absorbed in their whispered conversation to notice her.

"I don't know Sayuri," Yuka whispered to her friend. "What if she gets mad at us for interfering. You know how she can get when she is upset."

"Hey guys," Akane said announcing herself as she sat down. "Am I late? I thought we were not meeting till 9."

"Oh Hi Akane." Sayuri said. "Oh…..um…..no you aren't late. We just um….ended up getting an early start today and got here a bit early so we decided to go on and get a table. We haven't been here that long."

"Oh ok. So anyway what were you guys just talking about. Who do you not want to make upset by interfering with?"

"Huh...oh….um….Ms Hinako." Sayuri said quickly as she fumbled for an excuse. "We were just talking about how…..um…..we should….maybe….talk to principal Kuno about Ms Hinako draining students, but we don't really want to upset her you know how she can be. I don't want to get drained every day for the rest of school.

"Yeah that would stink but someone really does need to do something about her." Akane said as she poured herself a cup of tea. The three friends started to talk about which store to start with today and made a plan for the day. Soon they all had finished their tea and they were off.

They soon found their way to the store that specialized in Halloween and had a wide selection of costumes. "Hey Akane, what about this one." Yuka said as she held up a Red top with black shorts and black open toe boots. "You could be Sakura. It's perfect. You both have super strength. It's not super revealing but it will be very form fitting and will show off your legs Plus you will get to wear a cute pink wig."

"I don't know." Akane said as she got closer to check out the outfit some. "I like the show but I have never been a big fan of Sakura's. I always thought she was an annoying, whiny, crybaby. I was kind of thinking about going as Hinata though. If I go as the early version my hair will look similar, so I won't need a wig"

"No way Akane." Sayuri said as she shoved the Sakura outfit into Akane's arms. "I like Hinata as much as the next person but there is no way to make that outfit sexy. And remember you wanted to make Ranma notice you right? Well you need a more….appealing outfit. Why don't you at least try this one on."

The next thing Akane knew she was shoved into a changing room with the outfit. As she started to change clothing she heard some banging coming from a few stalls down from her. She quickly finished changing and stepped out of her room to go to the other changing room to see if the person needed any help. As she approached the room and was about to know she heard, "Now where the hell am I?"

"Ryoga? Is that you?" Akane asked as she pulled the door open to reveal the eternal lost boy.

"Akane? What are you doing in China?" Ryoga ask as stepped out of the changing room.

"You are not in China, Ryoga. You are in the women's changing room in the shopping district of Nerima." Akane said as gave him a confused look on how he always managed to get himself so lost all the time.

"The wom..wom….women's….changing….." Ranma stuttered as he finally took in his surroundings and the skimpy outfit Akane was wearing and started to get a nose bleed.

"Come on Ryoga. Let's get you out of here before you cause a panic with the other women." Akane took his hand and lead him outside to where her friends were waiting.

Yuka and Sayuri barely batted an eye as Akane emerged from the changing room with Ryoga. They had gotten to know the eternally lost boy over the past few years and came to realize quickly that he always ended up showing up in the oddest of locations. So when he came out with Akane they just accepted it as an everyday thing. Go in to change clothes. Come back in a new outfit with Ryoga in tow.

Yuka commented on how cute she looked in the outfit and that a pink wig would make it perfect while Sayuri just eyed her up and down with a judging look in her eye. "I don't know about this one guys." Akane said as she tried to pull down the short top some more to try to cover more of the short shorts. "I don't think this is really right for me."

"Yeah your right." Sayuri said dismissively. "This one doesn't have enough WOW effect to it. We need something that is going to make you stand out if we want to get his attention."

"Well for what it's worth," Ryoga said he tried to give his opinion. "I think you look great Akane. But, if I may ask, what is it for?"

"Oh well our friend is having a Halloween Costume Party next weekend, so we are out shopping for our outfits.

"What about this one?" Sayuri said as she pulled out a beautiful light blue floor length princess gown. It was a halter top dress with a low cut back that was covered in sequins so that it seemed to sparkle in the light.

"Oh my goodness!" Akane exclaimed as she reached out to grab the dress in her excitement. "But I don't know if I should go with a princess costume. That is what Kuno wanted me to wear and I don't want to give that idiot any ideas that we are going together." Sadly she let go of he dress as she continued, "Unfortunately I think I have to pass, even though that has to be the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.

Ryoga spent the rest of the morning with the three girls as they shopped for their outfits, offering his opinion, in between his many trips to the bathroom to deal with his nosebleeds. Yuka and Sayuri had quickly found their costumes but Akane was proving to be more difficult. It seemed like she had tried on just about every outfit and managed to find something wrong with all of them.

She complained that the nurses skirt barely covered her butt and the top was cut so low she thought her chest was going to pop out of it. The Mermaid outfit was just too revealing she said, being that the top was basically just a string bikini top and the skirt that formed the mermaid tail was super low cut and skin tight. The Jeanine outfit had been a contender for a while but when Akane thought about all the perverted boys at her school coming up to her and asking her to grant their wishes all night she decided against that one too. Akane had really like the gypsy outfit but Sayuri had vetoed that one, claiming it was just a frumpy dress did nothing to draw attention to her.

Tiered and hungry they decided to take a break and get some lunch. As the three girls and Ryoga were sitting at the cafe eating lunch Ranma and his friends spotted them and came over. As they were approaching Hiroshi asked Ranma if he had thought anymore about asking Akane to the party and mentioned that he better not wait much longer as that was Ryoga sitting next to her looking all buddy buddy.

"Yo, pig boy!" Ranma said as he pulled up a chair and placed himself between Akane and Ryoga. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be lost in some woods somewhere?" Then without asking he helped himself to some of Akane's chips.

Akane glared at the back of Ranma's head, amazed at how he could manage to be so rude in the five seconds he had been there.

"Funny Ranma." Ryoga replied. "I have just been helping Akane pick something to wear for the party next weekend. Where have you been? Shouldn't you have been helping her?"

"Nah, that Tomboy doesn't need my help. She can pick some lame costume out on her own."

"Ranma you jerk!" Akane yelled as she smacked him in the head. "Why do you have to be so rude all the time?" The two of them started to argue and Ryoga attempted to bait Ranma into a fight.

Yuka, Sayuri, Daisuke and Hiroshi all shook their heads a the hopelessness of their friends then started to talk together while Akane and Ranma were distracted.

"So have you had any luck picking an outfit out for Akane yet?" Hiroshi asked Sayuri. "We need to make sure Ranma gets a matching outfit. They can't go together if they have different outfits."

'I know, I know." Sayuri replied. "We have been trying ALL morning but she just won't decide. I will let you know as soon as she picks something. You will just have to keep stalling Ranma on making his decision."

"Oh don't worry about that. I don't think he has any interest in picking one. He has done everything he can to avoid it."

"These two are just impossible to work with. They are just too stubborn." Sayuri said in defeat.

"You are just not handling them properly." The four friends jumped as the heard Nabiki speak behind them. "Ranma and my sister are indeed stubborn when you give them a choice. But when you only LET them think the choice is theirs they are quite easy to handle. Now why don't you guys tell me exactly what it is you are up to."


	8. Chapter 8 - Final Selections

**10/29/17 - sorry this one is a bit short but I figured it was a good place to stop the chapter. Let me know what you think so far on the costume choices.**

 **~~OO~~**

"Alright Akane" Nabiki said as she took one last drink of her coffee and stood from the table. "Enough playing around with Ranma and Ryoga. We have to get to the store and pick out our costumes."

"OUR costumes?" Akane asked as she rejoined the rest of her friends and Ranma and Ryoga kept fighting.

"Yeah Daisuke invited me while you guys were playing. Now let's get going." The four girls said their goodbyes and took off to the next store.

Nabiki wasted no time finding her outfit. She went straight for the sexy biker costume with skin tight leather pants that hugged all her curves. A black leather biker jacket with lots of chains that was cut low enough to show a large amount of cleavage. She topped off the outfit with 5 in black heels, leather gloves, a biker hat and oversized sunglasses. As she stepped out of the changing rooms to show the rest of the group her costume Akane and her friends jaws hit the floor and their eyes bugged out.

"Nabiki! Oh my goodness….are you seriously going to wear that? It's so…...so…...well damn." Akane said at a complete loss of words.

"Good it's perfect."" Nabiki said as she twirled in front of the mirror. "I have plans of snagging my own man with this outfit. Now let's get you in an outfit that will drive Ranma crazy." Nabiki said as she turned to study her younger sister. I think I know the perfect outfit for you. How about you go as Princess Leia from Star Wars?"

"Oh that could work!" Akane said as she excitedly followed her sister. "I could get some white boots and the long white dress….oh and one of those blasters. I would have to get a wig though to do my hair in those buns on the ear." Yuka and Sayuri followed behind the pair with a confused look on their faces as they thought Nabiki understood the importance of Akane wearing a killer outfit not some long dress that wouldn't show off any of her assets.

"No no no Akane. Not that outfit." Nabiki said as she pulled out a different costume from the rack. "I was thinking about the slave outfit she wore when she was chained up with Jabba the Hut."

Akane instantly turned bright red as she looked that the skimpy outfit that would barely manage to cover anything as it was more see through than not. "There is no way I could where that Nabiki. It….it …..it doesn't cover anything. I could never go out wearing that."

"Oh come on Akane. Have a little fun it is Halloween after all." Nabiki said as she replaced the outfit on the rack. "You have a killer bod. Why not flaunt it. This is one night where you can wear anything you want and no one will call you pervert or slut or anything no matter how 'sexy' the outfit is."

"I know Nabiki but it just isn't me. I wouldn't feel comfortable."

"How about an outfit with a mask that would conceal your identity. Then you could wear whatever you want and no one would know it was you. Especially if you also go with a wig." Nabiki said as she searched the racks again. "How about this fairy princess one. You would have a mask and these cute wings?"

"Well that's not so bad. Let me try it on. I'll be right back." Akane grabbed the outfit and took off to change. While she was gone Nabiki told Sayuri and Yuka of her plan. The three girls immediately took off to find the needed items for Akane's real costume.

Once Akane was back the three girls were back and waiting. Akane looked lovely in the fairy costume but Nabiki knew she had to get her to reject this one. "I don't know Akane. It is really cute but maybe it looks a little too much like a regular princess. You wouldn't want to give Kuno the wrong idea now would you?"

"Yeah maybe you are right Nabiki." Akane said as she took another look at herself in the mirror. "But if not this then what? I swear I think I have tried on every outfit already."

"You know I think I have the perfect costume." Nabiki said as she pulled another outfit from the rack behind her. "How about this one."

Nabiki pulled out a pirate costume. It had brown leather knee high high heeled boots, brown leather tight pants, a white off the shoulder long sleeve top and a brown leather vest that reached down to her knees and was closed with a large belt across the waist. It was sexy and showed off all her curves but at the same time not overly revealing. Akane quickly changed into the outfit and everyone agreed that they had finally found the perfect outfit. Nabiki decided to top it off with a pirate hat and sword. Nabiki explained that she could use the sword to fight off all the guys that would be drooling after her.

~~OO~~

Once Ranma and Ryoga had finished their sparing, Ranma and his friends continued their search for costumes. Daisuke and Hiroshi took no time at all to find the right outfit as they already knew what they wanted. Ranma however took a while to convince.

"How about this Ranma?" Hiroshi said. "You could go as a pirate. You could use your regular black pants, get a long sleeve white shirt and a long red vest to wear over it. You could also get an eye patch and a sword to complete the outfit."

Ranma thought about it for a bit then decided that it sounded fairly cool. It wasn't too much different than his normal clothing, plus he would get to wear a sword so that was a bonus. "I guess it's not that bad. I could live with it. Help me find the stuff will ya."

"Great!" Daisuke said. "Now that that is settled. What are you going to do about Akane. You know if you wait much longer someone is going to beat you to it. Ryoga sure was looking awful close with her at lunch before we showed up."

"Don't worry about that." Ranma said as he grabbed a short sword and started to swing it around. "I have a plan."


	9. Chapter 9 - Dinner Conversations

****10/9/17- two chapters today. Hopefully this makes up for the super short one earlier today. I think I have one more big scene before the party so I think I am in good shape to be done on time. I will try my best but my work has a mandatory Costume Contest/Party and I am still working on my outfit - I am doing the original Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School bus and we are having a party at lunch so I can't work on it then. I still have to finish painting my shoes. Then there is trick-or-treating with the kiddos.****

~~OO~~

Ranma arrived back home first. He quickly put his costume in the back of the closet and went to the dojo to workout while he planned on how he would get their father's to insist they go to the party together. 'It should be fairly easy to get them to make me take Akane to the party, they are always looking for an excuse to force us to do things together. Heck I can't even take a weekend training trip anymore without having to take her along with me.' Ranma like to put up a fight every time they made him take Akane with him on the trips but secretly he had started to enjoy her company on the getaways, well that is as long as he managed to stop her from attempting to do any of the cooking. Ranma shuddered at the thought of Akane's cooking as he switched to some more advanced drills.

'All I have to do is bring up the party, maybe I will ask what she finally picked...I have to admit I am kind of interested what she chose. I couldn't believe some of the costumes I saw some girls trying on today. Does everyone just use this holiday to act like a pervert, who would wear some of those things out in public. Anyway...I'll ask what she got then I can mention all the crazy people that will be out that night just looking for some young unsuspecting girl to take advantage of and Soun will be practically be begging me to take her and protect his baby. Man this is almost too easy. I got a nice simple outfit and I will get to take Akane to the party without having to actually ask her. I wonder if Daisuke is planning any pranks for the party. It would be fun to scare her some too. Maybe if I scare her enough I can get her to grab onto me for protection like Shampoo grabs me everyday. I can't stand it when Shampoo gets a hold of me like that but I wouldn't mind having Akane hanging on me from time to time.'

Ranma got so lost in his thoughts on how he could go about scaring Akane that he didn't notice when Akane came into the dojo to get him for dinner.

"Hello Earth to Ranma." Akane called finally getting his attention. "Are you going to join us for dinner or should I just tell Kasumi to save you a plate"

"Alright, alright I hear you. I'm coming, just give me a minute and I will be right there." Ranma said as he started to straighten the dojo back up and grabbed his things. By the time he made it to the house everyone was already seated waiting for him so they could start to eat. He quickly sat down in his normal spot next to Akane.

"Well so happy you could join us tonight, Ranma" Nabiki said as she reached for the rice to make a plate.

"Sorry guys, I guess I got absorbed in my workout and I didn't realize how late it was."

"It's fine, Ranma" Kasumi said with a smile. "Eat up. I am sure you are hungry after being gone all day. Were you able to find a costume?"

"Yeah, I think I did. It's nothing special but it should work." Ranma said as he took a bite of his fish and decided now would be as good of a time as any to bring up the party since Kasumi already broke the ice. "How about you Akane. You find something? You all sure were shopping a long time."

"Yeah it took a while but I finally got what I wanted." She said with a small smile at the thought of how Ranma would react to the outfit.

"Oh yeah? What is it? If you tell me you got a chef outfit you will definitely win the prize for the scariest costume." Ranma joked as he went to take a bite of food but was interrupted with a swift smack to the back of the head by Akane.

"Ranma, why do you always have to be such a jerk!"

"It was a joke Akane! Lighten up will ya." Ranma said as he rubbed the back of his head more out of appearance than actual pain. It was nice to not be getting hit with her mallet every day but he wasn't quite used to the light smacks yet. "But seriously what are you going to be?"

"And why are you so interested, Ranma." Nabiki interrupted before Akane had a chance to answer him. "Typically you only tell your date what you are wearing, so that you can match costumes. Are you wanting to go with Akane to the party and want to know what she is wearing so you can get a matching outfit?"

"What! No, of course not. Why the hell would I want to go with that uncute Tomboy." Ranma yelled a bit too defensively.

"Well if not then why are you so interested? Why not find out at the party along with everyone else?" Nabiki asked.

"Fine, whatever. Not like I care or anything." Ranma mumbled while taking another bite and wondering how his plan had gotten derailed so quickly. Oh yeah Nabiki, that's how. He decided he needed to try again before the topic got changed and he lost his chance. "So Akane, you know Halloween brings all the freaks and weirdos out don't ya. You aren't going to be scared to walk to the party alone at night are you? I mean someone might try to grab ya on your way" He said as he made a quick poke to her side making her jump and let out a small scream.

Akane started to answer that she was going to be getting ready at her friends house and they would be going over together but Nabiki interrupted her again. "Why do you ask Ranma? You want to be her bodyguard for the night?"

Akane looked at her sister in confusion. She wondered what had gotten into her tonight. Normally Nabiki was happy to just sit back and watch Ranma tease her but tonight it almost seemed like she was trying to get Ranma to admit he wanted to go to the party with her.

"What! No...I mean… why….damn it Nabiki what is your deal tonight?"

"My deal? Nothing. I was just wondering why you are so interested in Akane's costume all of a sudden and why you seem to be trying to scaring her into worrying about going to the party alone. It almost sounds like you were trying to make her, or maybe our dad, think it wasn't safe to go out alone so that they would make you take her to the party just to be safe." Nabiki said nonchalantly as she poured herself another cup of tea.

Ranma stared at her with his mouth open wondering if he was just that obvious in his tactic tonight or if Nabiki was just trying to torture him today for some reason. Akane for her part kept looking between her sister and her fiancée trying to figure out what kind of game the two of them were playing. Soun appeared frozen as he watched the scene unfold before him and was desperately trying to catch up. Genma took this opportunity to steal some food from Ranma's plate and Kasumi was quietly muttering 'Oh My' to herself.

Soun was still not completely sure as to exactly what was happening but had finally registering Ranma's comment about it being unsafe for his baby girl to go to the party alone and started to insist that Ranma should take Akane to the party and protect her all night when Akane interrupted him. "Daddy I do not need Ranma to protect me. I am a martial artist too and I can take care of myself." Akane said as she slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "I will be going to the party with Yuka and Sayuri so I will be just fine. Besides you can't just tell me who I am going to a party with. I will make that decision for myself." And with that she stormed out of the room.

Nabiki smirked behind her teacup as she noted that everything went according to plan tonight. Ranma was so confused on how things had gone so terribly wrong that he didn't notice that his father picked his plate clean in the confusion.

Over the next few days Ranma attempted to figure out how he had screwed things up so badly at dinner while he attempted to keep the rest of the male student body from trying to ask Akane to the party till he could figure out another plan. Kuno was simple, he just kept him in a constant state of unconsciousness. It really was a miracle that he didn't suffer permanent brain damage, more so than he already had, with the number of blows to the head he got on a daily basis over the last few years. Gosunkugi was simple to handle. Ranma pulled the boy aside Monday morning and had a nice little 'talk' with him that he better not even think about trying to ask Akane to the party or else. As for the rest of the male population of the class Ranma used the tried and true method of never leaving Akane's side to scare off any potential suitors

By Wednesday Akane had gotten fed up with Ranma's obsessive behavior. "I swear I have never seen Ranma like this before. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to start marking his territory around me by peeing everywhere. I just don't know what has gotten into him lately. If anyone besides you two even look like they are going to come up to talk to me he gives them the dirtiest look till they give up and leave." Akane said to Yuka and Sayuri as they sat down to eat their lunch. "I am so glad he has gym right before lunch and it takes him a while to catch up with us or I would never get a moment to myself"

Just then Ryoga wandered into the school yard and spotted Akane. He made his way quickly to her and sat down next to the three girls. "How's it going guys? Did you all end up finding your costumes the other day? Sorry I kind of lost you after I got done with Ranma."

"Oh that's ok Ryoga." Akane said as she gave him a bright smile. "Yeah I found a great costume, Nabiki helped me. Are you going to come to the party?"

"Well I don't know, it sounds kind of fun but I don't think I would be able to find my way there on my own." Ryoga looked down as the ground and started to fidget a bit as he tried to find the right words. "But maybe….if you would….you know….want to go together maybe…"

"Like hell she's going to the party with you, Pig Boy!" Ranma yelled as he knocked Ryoga away from Akane and stood protectively over her.

"Damn it Ranma!" Ryoga yelled as he stood up to face the pigtailed martial artist. "Why the heck do you care so much who she goes to the party with?"

"Because she is going to the party with me, not your or anyone else!" Ranma yelled loud enough for all the students in the yard to hear. It took a moment for what he said to register with Ranma and once it did he couldn't believe he had just said that, and so loudly. Refusing to look back at Akane Ranma started to squirm under all the stares. "What I mean is…..she um….can go with….well….whoever she….oh hell" Ranma knew he was sunk now, there was no way to deny he had just said that. So instead he turned around to look at a stunned Akane. Instead of trying to deny it he decided to just own it instead. He hadn't come up with any other way to get her to go with him so he guessed this was as good of a way as any other. "Well what do you say. You want to go together?" He asked in barely a whisper but loud enough for Akane to hear him.

Akane thought she was stunned at his first comment but at the second where he actually asked her to go with him she found she couldn't manage a simple yes to save her life. Instead she gave him the biggest and brightest smile he had ever seen and nodded yes in reply.


	10. Chapter 10 - Costume Reveal

**11/01/17 - Sorry I am not done by Halloween, but I just didn't want to rush the story. I promise I will be done soon though, only a few more chapters. I had trouble getting this one going at first but then it just took on a life of its own as it all came spilling out. Loving the comments - keep them coming.**

 **I hope you like this next chapter.**

 **~~OO~~**

Nabiki watched the scene at lunch unfold from her window on the second floor. When she heard Ranma scream that Akane was going to the party with him and no one else, she knew it was time to proceed to the next step in her plan. She gathered up her things and told her friend and right hand woman Sakura to gather the team. "We have some news to spread and I want to make sure it makes it to the right people as soon a possible. Tell everyone to meet me in 10 minutes at our normal spot."

~~OO~~

Akane couldn't believe it, Ranma had actually asked her, in front of everyone, if she would go to the party with him. It didn't matter that no one beside her actually heard him ask. The point was she was finally going to get to have an official date with him. Who cares if they will be dressed up as other people at the time, it still counted.

The rest of lunch Ranma just sat quietly beside Akane, refusing to look at anyone. He couldn't believe he had just announced that he was going to the party with Akane in front of the whole school like that, but at least she said yes. He would never admit it but he was excited and relieved that it was all decided now. Now he just had to find a way to keep the other girls from trying to kill Akane before Saturday Night. ' _I wonder if I could convince her to leave town till Saturday. That may be the only way we both survive till then once everyone finds out.'_

The bell rang announcing the end of lunch and everyone started to leave for their classes. Akane and Ranma took a bit longer in gathering their things and trailed behind the rest of their friends. "I hope you aren't mad at me for yelling that Akane." Ranma said, trying to figure out how she felt about it since she hadn't said a word since then.

"Oh no, of course not. I was just….surprised. I never would have expected you to do that." She said as she looked his way and notice he looked a bit sad. "But I am happy you asked" she added. That seemed to make him happy as a smile spread across his face.

"Good, I was worried you only said yes so that you didn't have to make a bigger scene than I already had made."

As they entered the school they went to the stairs, Akane had class on the 2nd floor and Ranma's was just down the hall on the first floor. "I guess since we are going together we should probably talk about our costumes" Akane said. "I don't know if you want to do a matching outfit or not but I am kind of interested in what you picked. Plus I would hate it if our outfits clashed. Or we could just make it a surprise if you want."

"Well, I was kind of interested in what kind of costume you got too. Mine's not that big of a deal so if you want me to change I can." Ranma replied.

"Ok….well I guess we should go or we will be late for class. I'll see you after school and we can talk more about it then."

By the time school was out everyone in class had heard the news about Ranma announcing that he and Akane would be going to the party together. Luckily Ukyo was out today and had missed it so the rest of the day passed without incident. Ranma knew though, that he would have to deal with her sooner rather than later, as no news about him and Akane was kept quiet for long. Then there was Shampoo to deal with. She would definitely have something to say about him going to the party with Akane.

"You think our dads would let us skip town for the next few days?" Ranma said as he walked with Akane home after school. "I don't think Ukyo and Shampoo are going to take the news well and I don't really feel like fighting them off for the next few days."

"Do you really think that's necessary, Ranma? Maybe Shampoo will not find out. It's not like she goes to our school. And Ukyo….well….yeah that one is going to be tough. But you already told her you weren't going with her right? Well maybe if we don't make a big deal out of it maybe she won't either."

"Have you meet either of them before?" Ranma asked. "Of course Shampoo is going to find out. She always finds out one way or another and Ukyo is going to be pissed. They are going to be out for blood and you know it."

"Yeah your right. Maybe we should skip town." Akane said as she winked at him as they continued walking.

When they arrived home Akane went to get her costume from her room. She quickly changed into it and rushed to the dojo. ' _I sure hope Ranma likes my costume. It may not show off a lot of skin or cleavage like Nabiki's outfit but I think it looks good. I can't believe Nabiki actually helped pick it out without charging me anything.'_

Ranma was already in the dojo when Akane got there. "Ranma, you ready?" She called from outside the dojo.

"Uh yeah...come in" Ranma said as he tried to adjust the sword on his belt. When he looked up he saw Akane standing in the doorway and he dropped the sword to the floor in shock. He just stood there just staring at her and couldn't believe just how hot she looked in the outfit. He had never seen her wear something so fitted and well sexy before. The high heeled boots and skin tight pants highlighted her long shapely legs. The wide belt at her waist accentuated the curves of her hips and how tone her waistline was. The way she stood with her hands behind her back forced her chest to push forward slightly, showing off just how much she had grown in the few years they had known each other. He couldn't for the life of himself imaging how he had ever considered her to have had thick thighs or a flat chest. She wore a long sleeve shirt that exposed her shoulders. He had never thought that bare shoulders could be so enticing before but he found himself desiring to run his hands along the smooth skin of her shoulders. The long vest that she wore over the shirt slightly covered her shoulders but that just made the skin still showing that much more appealing. He knew he should say something...that he shouldn't keep staring but he just couldn't manage to form any words or look away. He thought if he looked away she might disappear, as nothing that beautiful could last long in his crazy world.

Akane stood there uncomfortably under his gaze as he took the sight of her in from head to toe. She held her hands behind her back to try to keep from fidgeting with them and started to sway slightly. She felt as if he was burning a hole into her with his eyes as they seemed to be taking in every inch of her. She ran a hand through her hair and looked at her feet and started to squirm under his gaze. "Well Ranma, what do you think? Do I look...ok?" She asked as she tried to not let her nervousness show in her voice. When he didn't answer she started to walk towards him.

As Akane slowly walked towards him, the only sound in the room was the sound of her high heeled shoes against the floor boards. Ranma was amazed at how graceful Akane moved in the high heeled boots as he had never seen her wear something like that before, and here he thought she needed to work on her balance. Maybe she just needed to walk in these boots more he thought. The long vest seemed to flow around her legs as she moved, when they parted he got a full look at her legs and sucked in a breath at the sight.

As she neared him, she stumbled slightly and in an instance Ranma was there to catch her. The two teens stared into each other's eyes which were only inches away from each other. Slowly Ranma took a breath to settle his nerves he spoke. "You ok, Akane?"

Akane's heart raced in anticipation of how close they were and the fact that Ranma was now holding her in his strong arms. She looked down and brushed her hair out of her face as she responded. "Yeah sorry about that. I'm not quite used to these heals yet I guess. Thanks for catching me."

"Of course no problem." Ranma said as he continued to hold her and made no move to set her back down as he was mesmerized while looking into her eyes.

"Um….Ranma…..you can put me down now."

"Oh right sorry about that." He said as he quickly released her and took a step back to give her some space.

"Thanks." She said as she ran her hands down the side of her outfit. "Well what do you think? I'm supposed to be a pirate, Nabiki helped me pick it out. I left my sword and hat in my room though."

"You look...gr...great Akane." Ranma said as she struggled to speak as he once again took in the sight of her outfit. "Um I'm supposed to be a pirate too." He said as he reached in his pocket to pull out an eye patch to put on and grabbed his sword from the floor and shoved it into his belt.

"How much you want to bet Nabiki had a hand in your outfit as well. I was wondering why she was being so helpful lately." Akane said as she took in Ranma's outfit. It wasn't much different than his everyday clothing except he had a long sleeve white tee on with a silk red vest over top it and a long red sash tied around his waist that held his sword. She had to admit he looked awful cute with the eye patch on. "I bet you it was her plan all along to make us go together, so she wanted us to have matching outfits without us realizing it."

"Yeah I bet you are right." He agreed. "I thought something was up the other night at dinner when she kept asking me about wanting to go with you and all that stuff."

"You didn't ask me just because she tricked you somehow, did you?" Akane asked as she sadly wondered if he didn't really want to go with her and this was all just one big set up courtesy of her big sister..

"No of course not." He quickly reassured her which brought the smile back to her face. Softly he continued, "I wanted to go with you but I…..I just didn't know how to do it or if you would want to or not."

"Of course I did Ranma. I was really happy you asked" Akane said as she took a small step closer to him.

"Good, I'm glad." Ranma replied as he took a small step closer as well.

Soon they were just inches away from each other again. Ranma reached out to grab her hand and pulled her closer to him, "Akane….I…." He said slowly as he looked down at her small hand in his. "I….I really do…"

Just then the door of the dojo burst open and shattered into pieces. Ranma shoved Akane behind him as an enraged Ukyo and Shampoo stepped over the destroyed door. "What the Hell, Ukyo, Shampoo, what are you guys doing here?" Ranma yelled.

"Get your hands off MY fiancée!" Ukyo screamed at Akane as Shampoo yell "Violent kitchen wrecker no go to party with my Ranma."

"How did they find out about it so fast?" Akane asked into Ranma's ear.

He turned to look at her and they both said "Nabiki".

"I swear I am going to kill that sister of mine. Right after we deal with these two." She said as she moved to stand beside Ranma and faced off with Ukyo.

Shampoo lunged at Akane and Ranma quickly stepped in between them and took her on as Ukyo threw a hand full of her mini spatulas at Akane. Akane managed to deflect most of them but one managed to hit her in the leg and cut a hole in her pants, causing her left leg to bleed. Akane looked down at her now damaged outfit and then back at Ukyo with fire in her eyes as she rushed at her. "Ukyo! You are going to pay for that!."

Ranma heard Akane scream and turned to see her rushing at Ukyo with her familiar mallet in her hands. When he looked away Shampoo made her moved and did a roundhouse kick to his side that sent him flying into the wall. With him momentarily gone she started to charge Akane again only to be tackled by Ranma sending the two of them skidding across the room. Shampoo quickly kicked him off herself and jumped back up on her feet. "What Ranma doing? No want to go to party with pervert-girl. Go party with Shampoo much better."

"Damn it Shampoo. I'm not going to the party or any other place with you. Why can't you get that?"

"Why Ranma play hard to get? Have much more fun with Shampoo." The two of them launched into another series of fast punches and kicks, neither one having much success at landing a blow on the other.

Ukyo pulled out her giant battle spatula and knocked Akane's mallet out of her hand. Akane was at a large disadvantage attempting to fight in the boots, so instead she attempted to fight hand to hand in close quarters. Ukyo quickly realized her strategy and leapt backwards while releasing another handful of mini spatulas. This time one sliced a hole in Akane's right sleeve and another cut the top of her vest across her shoulder. The vest fell down loose around her waist where it was held in place by her belt. Akane then rushed forward intent on pounding her sometimes friend into the ground.

Ranma new that he needed to handle Shampoo quickly and help Akane with Ukyo, as she was obviously at a disadvantage in her costume. Shampoo came flying at Ranma from the left attempting to kick him while he was checking on Akane's fight but this time Ranma caught her leg and threw her across the room with all his force. The Amazon hit the wall with a thud and slid the the ground in an unconscious heap. Ranma moved to check her and once he assured himself she was ok just knocked out he rushed to Akane and Ukyo.

Akane and Ukyo were both standing apart from each other, waiting for the other to make the next move. Both girls were breathing heavy from their battle. Ukyo had lost her giant spatula and was holding her remaining mini spatulas as she grabbed her left arm where Akane had managed to land a blow a moment ago. Akane for her part wasn't in much better shape. The heel on her right boot had broken off, she had a few holes in her pants, the right sleeve of her shirt had been ripped off and her vest hung loose around her waist from where it had been sliced off. Her belt was the only part of her outfit that appeared undamaged.

"Ukyo what are you doing?" He screamed at his oldest friend. "Why are you attacking Akane?"

"Why are you going to that party with her?" She yelled back as she turned her head in his direction. "I thought you said you weren't going to the party before and now you are going and with HER! You should be going with me! I'm the cute fiancée!"

"Oh man Ukyo why do you got to keep doing these things. You are my FRIEND. Isn't that enough for you?"

"No! No it isn't. You are supposed to be my fiancée. You are supposed to marry me and go to parties with me, not her." She said as tears started to fall down her cheek.

Ranma slowly walked forward with his hands in the air to try to disarm her. "Ukyo, come on we're best friends. Don't be like this." Ranma stopped in his approach as Ukyo took a step backwards and started to look around the room as if looking for a way to escape from what she knew Ranma was about to say to her. "I'm sorry I don't want to hurt you….but I am never going to like you in that way Ukyo." As soon as the words left Ranma's lips she broke down sobbing and started to fall to the ground. Ranma got there just in time to catch her before she hit the floor and held her as she cried into his shirt.

Akane slowly approached the two and saw Ukyo crying uncontrollably into Ranma's chest. Ranma looked up at her and silently pleaded with Akane to understand that he needed to be here for Ukyo right now and to not hold this against him. Akane nodded her head in understanding, patted his shoulder in encouragement and left the dojo to give them some privacy.


	11. Chapter 11 - Ruined Costumes

**11/2/17 - and the next chapter is up. Don't worry I think they will make it to the party in the next chapter. Let me know what you all think. I love the comments they help me with inspiration on where to go with the story.**

 **~~OO~~**

Akane had gone to her room after the incident in the dojo with Ukyo and Shampoo. She changed into some fresh clothes and treated her minor cuts, then found herself sitting at her desk staring at her ruined costume laying on the bed. ' _Well at least I got to wear it once, too bad it was only for like 10 minutes. I can't believe they found out about Ranma asking me to the party so quickly. Why does this stuff always keep happening. I really hope they get the hint after all this that Ranma doesn't want to be with them, and they leave us alone. It is hard enough trying to get along when it is just the two of us, we don't need them always around messing things up further.'_

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Ranma poked his head into Akane's room. "Hey Akane." He said as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. "How are you doing. You didn't get seriously hurt did you?

"No, I'm fine. Just a few cuts, nothing serious. But I can't say the same for my costume. It's ruined." Akane said with a sigh as she gestured to the tattered clothing on her bed.

Ranma looked at the pile of clothes and ruined boots. He thought it was a shame she couldn't wear it to the party, but then again maybe it was a good thing because he didn't need a bunch of guys staring at her all night like they were bound to do if she wore that. Ranma then took in the state of his clothing to realize his shirt wasn't in much better shape. His long sleeve shirt had a few cuts of it's owns and a nice big black spot where Ukyo's makeup had stained his shirt. "It's ok Akane. My costume isn't looking to good either. I'm sure we can find something else in time, that is if you still want to go with me after all that craziness that just went down."

"Yeah of course I still want to go with you" Akane said as she stood from her chair and walked toward him. "How's Ukyo doing?"

"Not great, but what can you expect." Ranma said as he looked down at the ground and ran his hand through his hair. He started to fidget uncomfortably as he continued, "I think she finally gets it now…..that I don't like her in that way. I just hope she still wants to be friends after all this."

"Just giver her some time and space Ranma. When she is ready she'll come to you." Akane said as she reached over to give Ranma a comforting hug.

"Thanks, Akane. And thanks again for understanding that I needed to handle that alone with her."

"Of course." Akane said as she pulled away from the hug but kept her hands on Ranma's shoulders and Ranma's hand remained on her hips. Neither one was quite ready to let the other go. They stood there for a moment frozen as they stared into each other's eyes. Finally Akane pulled away and moved towards the door. "Now how about we pay a little visit to my dear sister to see if she had anything to do with them finding out about us so quickly."

Akane and Ranma searched the whole house and were unable to find Nabiki. They realized she most likely was a part of this whole mess and was avoiding them at all cost. They knew she had to come home eventually so they decided to have a sparring match in the dojo while they waited. When they got to the dojo there was no sign of Ukyo or Shampoo, other than the property damage that is. They quickly cleaned up the debri of the door and got to work. Before they knew it Kasumi came to tell them dinner was almost ready and that they should wash up. Ranma told Akane she could have the bath first and he would be in later.

When Akane and Ranma finally made their way to the dinner table Nabiki was already there writing in her book as she waited for everyone else.

"Nabiki, I can't believe you." Akane said as she sat down.

"Whatever do you mean, dear sister?" She said in a way too innocent tone.

"You know what I mean. First you manipulated me and Ranma into getting the same costumes. Then you went and told Ukyo and Shampoo that we were going to the party together."

"Their going together!" Both Soun and Gemma said in unison as they started to dance around. "We should start planning the wedding.: Gemma shouted. "Oh our schools will finally be joined!" Soun yelled Both were oblivious to the death stares they were receiving from the rest of the family still seated around the table.

"Knock it off will ya!" Ranma yelled as the grabbed his old man and tossed him into the pond which activated his curse turning him into a panda.

# **what did you do that for#** the panda said via the sign he held as he climbed out of the pond.

Ranma shook his head as he once again wondered where he kept all those signs hidden. Must be the same place Akane keeps that damn mallet of hers, thank god I haven't had to see that recently though. "You know what for! And you better back off. There isn't going to be a wedding! It's just a stupid party, so lay off."

Akane felt her anger rise now but this time it was directed at Ranma. ' _How dare he just dismiss me like that. It's not like I want a wedding right now but he didn't have to say it that way."_ She felt her hand start to twitch as she started to pull out her mallet while she faced Ranma's back. ' _No I'm not going to resort to malletting him again, but one way or another he is going to learn how to talk about me...or us…..or whatever without insulting me.'_ So she let the mallet go and instead just smacked the back of his head to get his attention and get him to shut up before he said something else to piss her off further. He spun around quickly while rubbing his head, but just as he was about to yell at her for hitting him, he realized the fire in her eyes and decided it would be smart to just sit back down instead.

"Anyway" Akane said slowly as she turned her attention back to Nabiki. "What do you have to say for yourself, Nabiki?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Akane." Nabiki said as she poured herself a cup of tea. "I didn't pick out your outfit, you chose that pirate costume. If I had chosen you would have come home with the Princess Leia outfit that you refused to even try on." Nabiki said as she gave Akane a sly grin. Akane started to blush as Ranma asked what kind of outfit it was as he noticed her blush. "And as for Ranma's outfit, I wasn't even with him when he got it, so why would you think I had anything to do with that? What did he get anyway?" Nabiki asked even though she already knew exactly what he got.

"Oh come on, Nabiki. Don't play dumb, you know he also got a Pirate costume." Akane huffed. "Well what do you have to say about Ukyo and Shampoo finding out about what happened at lunch, or are you going to tell me you had nothing to do with that too?"

"Now why would I go and tell them that? Huh? What would I have to gain from them coming over here all upset and busting up things. I don't enjoy having to keep replacing things around here because of all your violent friends."

Akane and Ranma weren't sure how to respond to that. She was right. Nabiki only did things that benefited her in some way and they couldn't see how and angry Ukyo and Shampoo would benefit her.

"Well….I don't know why, but I am sure you had a hand in it somehow." Akane said as her anger started to dissipate. "But what am I going to do about my costume now? They ruined my outfit. I don't think even Kasumi could even save it now."

"Well if you are in need of a new outfit I may be able to help you out there." Nabiki said as she took another bite of her food. "I'll even do it free of charge since I know how upset you are about your pirate costume getting ruined."

"I am NOT wearing the outfit you picked out." Akane said as she remembered the biker outfit Nabiki had gotten.

"Please, like I would let you have that. I told you I am going to snag my own man with that one. No, but I do have a costume that would be just perfect for you."

"Well I guess I don't have much of a choice at this point." Akane said while she considered her offer and started to eat her dinner.

"Great, then now that that's all settled…." Nabiki said as she turned to Kasumi and started discussing other things.

Ranma leaned over towards Akan and asked, "So tell me about this biker outfit Nabiki got."

"You pervert" Akane hissed as she elbowed Ranma in the side and continued to eat her dinner as she wondered what kind of outfit Nabiki would have for her.


	12. Chapter 12 - Getting Dressed Up

**11/04/17 - Here you go. Hoping to finish up in maybe 2 more chapters or so. But got a question for you all. How do you feel about Ranma and Akane drinking, not talking about getting drunk or anything. Just a few to loosen things up as they are bound to be nervous about the party. I am torn on one hand I don't think they would ever drink, they care to much about their bodies and health. Plus their fathers are excellent examples on why not to drink. But they are teens at a party and are quite nervous so even if they don't willing drink I could see someone 'Cough Nabiki cough' slipping them a drink or two by 'accident'. Not sure how I want to do it as I don't want to ruin the feel of the story. Let me know if you care one way or another as I will be working on the next chapter soon.**

 **~~OO~~**

The next day at school passed rather uneventful. There was no Shampoo on their walk to school and Ukyo missed class again that day. At lunchtime Akane explained what happened with Ukyo and Shampoo and how her costume got destroyed. She missed the conspiratorial grin Yuka and Sayuri shot each other as she turned to see what all the commotion was about going on over with Ranma and his friends. She realized Ryoga had shown up again and him and Ranma had started fighting. "Can't those two do anything beside fight with each other?"

"So Akane,: Sayuri said trying to get her attention back, "any idea what kind of costume Nabiki has got for you?"

"No she didn't say." Akane responded as she turned back to her friends. "She said she needed to pick up a few things before she could give it to me. But she assured me it would be ready in time for the party."

"Well that's good, because there is NOTHING left at the stores. Well unless you want to go as a giant hot dog or something stupid like that. It sure is a good thing Nabiki had an extra costume you could use."

"Yeah it is. I would almost think she planned it, but there's no way she would have know they would attack me while I was wearing it and destroy it."

"Yeah no way." Yuka said as she chuckled nervously. "Anyway….you guys should come over to my place on Saturday so we can get ready together. I know Daisuke asked Hiroshi to help him set up before the party so he asked if we would mind just meeting them there. I bet they are going to try and talk Ranma into coming over to help too. "

"That sounds like fun." Sayuri said. "You in Akane?"

"Yeah sure. Do you care if Nabiki comes over too?"

"Sure the more the merrier."

"Hey you guys, do either of you know who this mystery guy is that Nabiki is wanting to hook up with at the party?" Akane asked her friends. The three girls spent the rest of the lunch period trying to figure out just who it could be that Nabiki might have her sights set on.

~~OO~~

Ranma spent his lunch with Daisuke and Hiroshi pestering him into agreeing to come over and help set up the party. "Come on man," Daisuki pleaded. "I need help getting things ready before the party. You can just get ready at my place and Akane will get ready with the other girls over at Yuka's house and meet us at the party."

Not feeling like arguing anymore, Ranma finally agreed, "Fine as long as Akane doesn't kill me for making her meet me at the party I guess I could help out."

"Great. Oh yeah have you told Ukyo yet about you and Akane going to the party together?" Daisuke asked.

"You mean you didn't hear yet?" Ranma asked? "Ukyo and Shampoo BOTH showed up at our place after school and attacked us. They completely destroyed Akane's costume."

"Oh man that sucks." Daisuke said as Hiroshi tried to cover his smile as he took a drink. "I wonder how they found out so quickly, Ukyo wasn't even in school yesterday."

"Who knows." Hiroshi said. "I bet someone went to their shops after school for a bite to eat and were talking about it and they overheard. So anyway, what is Akane going to do about an outfit?" He asked trying to change the topic.

"Nabiki said she had something she could use." Ranma said as he leaned back against the tree.

"Ranma, prepare to die!" Ryoga yelled as Ranma rolled to his side just managing to avoid his fist, causing Ryoga to hit the tree instead.

"What the hell Ryoga? Why are you attacking me now?" Ranma asked as he readied himself for Ryoga's next attack.

"What did you do to Ukyo? She has been crying her eyes out all day and I just know you had something to do with it." Ryoga said as he threw a punch at Ranma which was easily deflected.

"Oh man really." Ranma said sadly as he only half heartedly fought Ryoga. "Yeah I guess it is my fault. She found out about me and Akane going to the party together and I told her I only liked her as a friend nothing more. She didn't take it very well.

Daisuke and Hiroshi both yelled "You did WHAT!" in shock that Ranma actual dealt with one of his fiancees.

Ryoga was so shocked at this revelation that he halted his attack mid punch. "You mean you actually were honest with her on how you feel about her? No wonder she is so upset right now. I found myself in her storeroom this morning and when she found me she just broke down into tears. I just went out to get some more tissues for her and ended up here by accident."

"Hey Ryoga do me a favor and keep an eye on her for a while. She shouldn't be alone right now."

"Yeah sure I can do that. But um…..you think you could point me in the direction of her shop again. I kind of forget how to get back to it."

~~OO~~

That evening Akane and Ranma were watching tv when Nabiki came in and tossed a small bag at Akane as she headed upstairs to her room. "Here sis. I got this for you to go with your new costume."

Akane looked in the bag and shouted at her retreating sister, "Nabiki, what exactly is my new costume?" But Nabiki had already gone upstairs to her room, pointedly ignoring her question.

"What is it Akane?" Ranma asked as he tried to look inside the bag himself.

Akane pushed him away and pulled out a set of finger cymbals. "Do you think it's a marching band costume?"

"Hell If I know. I'm not even sure what the heck those things are."

~~OO~~

Friday passed by in a blur. Ukyo and Shampoo were no shows at school again, not that anyone was complaining about two days in a row of semi normalcy. Akane tried all day to get Nabiki to tell her what her costume was but all she managed to get out of her was that she should trust her big sister.

Soon Saturday was here and Nabiki told Akane to go on ahead of her and she would meet her at Yuka's house with her costume soon. After Akane had left Ranma got dressed in his costume so he could leave for Daisuke's house to help with the set up.

As Ranma exited his room Nabiki was lounging against the wall watching him. Ranma looked down at his ripped up and makeup stained shirt and attempted to adjust his vest to cover up as much of the damage as possible.

"Are you actually going to wear THAT when you take my baby sister out for the first time?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice. I don't have anything else. I'll just tell everyone I'm a pirate that just got out of a bar fight."

'Yeah, no." Nabiki said as she shook her head and walked over to him. "I am not going to let you go to that party and embaress our family. Why don't you let me help you out."

"Well what do you have in mind? You got a spare costume for me too?" Ranma joked but quickly silenced himself as Nabiki was critically staring him up and down.

"I think with a few small modifications we can change this pirate costume into an Arabian Prince outfit." Nabiki reached up and took his red silk vest off him and told him to take off that ruined white shirt then had him put the Red vest back on. Next she had him remove his normal shoes and put on a pair of sandals. She looked him over once more. The black silk pants, red silk belt and vest would work perfect. The short sword even went well with his new outfit as well, so she let him keep that.. They just needed one more thing to complete the outfit. "Stay right there. I think I have something in my room for you." Nabiki returned with a red turban hat and placed it on Ranma's head. "There, you're perfect now." She said with nod of satisfaction.

"Uh….thanks." Ranma said as he checked out his new outfit. "Do I want to know why you just happened to have a matching turban hat in your room?"

"You know me, be prepared for anything." With that she gave him a wink and grabbed her bags to meet up with her sister so they could get ready.

As Ranma watched Nabiki leave he got a sinking feeling that she was up to something, but decided to shake it off and just be thankful he was able to get a new costume. He finished grabbing the rest of the things Daisuke had asked him to bring and headed out.

~~OO~~

"Where is Nabiki?" Akane asked again as she looked out Yuka's window looking for any sign of her sister coming. She had already managed to help get both her other friends dressed and they had moved on to hair and makeup. Since Akane still had no clue as to what her outfit was she didn't want to start on her own hair and makeup, so instead she was pacing around the room.

"Akane, will you please sit down. You are driving me nuts." Yuka said as she adjusted her blond wig and placed the large black bow on top. "Nabiki knows when the party is, she will be here soon. So just relax."

"She's just anxious for her first DATE with RANMA." Sayuri teased her friend as she readjusted her hat and went to sit beside Akane on the bed. "Just Relax Akane. Tonight is going to be great and we will all be there with you so you have nothing to worry about."

"I know thanks. I'm just….worried Nabiki is going to screw me at the last minute and then what am I going to do?"

"I can't believe you think I would ruin your little date with Ranma." Nabiki said as she entered the room and tossed Akane a bag. "Here's your costume little sis. Now hurry up and get ready or we'll be late."

Akane looked into the bag and let out a small shriek and looked up at her sister. "Nabiki what kind of costume is this?" She asked as she started to dump out the contents of the bag onto the bed. Yuka and Sayuri both came over to check out the costume for themselves and started to giggle.

"What you don't like it?" Nabiki asked as she started to pull out her own costume. "I'm sure Ranma's going to LOVE it."

"Yeah and every other pervert at our school!" Akane yelled as she held up part of the outfit.

"Oh please Akane I'm sure there are going to be girls wearing things so much worse. Now quit complaining and get dressed. Unless you want to wear that ripped up pirate costume of yours?" Nabiki teased.

"Yeah well I may be safer wearing that than this thing….How do you put it all on anyway?" Akane asked as she looked up at her sister.

Nabiki gave her sister a smirk and walked over. "Here let me help you with that."

~~OO~~

 **Sorry they didn't quite make it to the party yet but will be there next**


	13. Chapter 13 - Arriving at the Party

**11/7/17 - sorry it took so long to post. I had some writter's block at first. Hope you like it. I am thinking maybe 2 more chapters. I will try to finish up quickly but since this is my first Ranma story I really didn't want to rush it. Let me know what you think**

 **~~OO~~**

Akane tugged at the top of her costume attempting in vain to reduce the amount of cleavage that was popping out of the top. She felt extremely exposed in the outfit Nabiki had brought her. "Are you guys sure I look ok in this?" She asked her friends again which brought about a chorus of groans from the group.

"Look Akane," Nabiki said as she approached her sister and put her hands on her shoulder. "You look incredible. Ranma is going to flip out when he realizes this is you. I for one can't wait to see his eyes bug out." Nabiki said as she readjusted the veil that covered all of Akane's face except her eyes. "No one is going to be able to recognize you in this outfit unless you want them to. Now little sister, have some confidence in yourself and strut in there like you own the place and you will be fine."

"I don't know…" Akane sighed. "I still don't know about this outfit….but I guess it is too late to change now." After taking one last look at herself in the mirror Akane turned to her friends and said she was finally ready to go.

On the way there Akane started to feel a bit more confident in her own outfit as she took in some of the other costumes people were wearing. She shivered as she realized someone even had the guts to wear that damn Princess Leia slave costume that Nabiki tried to get her to try on. ' _Thank GOD Nabiki hadn't shown up with THAT costume. I would have skipped the party altogether if I had to wear that.'_ Compared to that outfit this one was tame. This outfit at least covered up the majority of her body, even thought it was with almost completely see through material.

About a block away from the party Nabiki took off in the other direction, saying she was meeting her date around the corner and she would be by later. Akane watched her sister depart wondering again to the mystery guy was. Shaking off the question the girls rounded the next corner and saw Daisuke's house come into view.

He had really gone over the top with the decorations. There were strobe lights and fog machines everywhere. The fog covered the entire ground surrounding the house, giving it a very spooky feel. The front yard was decorated to look like a cemetery and even had an casket by the walkway to the house. They watched from the sidewalk as Gosunkugi started to walk up to the house. As he approached the casket the lid popped open and a body sprung up from inside it. Gosunkugi screamed bloody murder and stumbled backwards falling over one of the tombstones and started to crawl backwards away from the casket before he realized it was just a dummy. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and dusted himself off as the dummy laid back down the the lid closed again. He looked around to see just how many people had witness his complete lack of control before he once again made his way towards the house but this time avoided the sidewalk to avoid activating the casket again. Akane and her friends watched as Daisuke and Hiroshi stood on the front step laughing their heads off at catching yet another one of their friends in their prank.

Yuka suggested they should slip around the side of the house and go in through the back to avoid that and any other pranks the boys had set up for unsuspecting party goers. Sayuri and Akane agreed and the three friends made their way around back. They soon their way inside and to the snack table.

Daisuke sure had gone all out for this party. Not only did he have the house decked out but he also made some themed food and drinks. The punch was a red liquid with white foam and eyeballs floating on top, there was a carved pumpkin that appeared to have puked a green substance (guacamole) all over the table, a plate full of fingers and some spider shaped cookies.

"Wow" Akane said as she was taking it all in. "When Daisuke said he loved Halloween, he sure wasn't kidding."

"Tell me about it." Yuka said as she rolled her eyes. "All he talked about for the past week has been what all he was doing for this party. It was fun at first helping him but man he was obsessed."

"Well he definitely delivered a kick ass party." Sayuri said as she made herself a cup of punch and surveyed the party guest. "I guess we should go find the boys now. They are probably still terrorizing Gosunkugi or laughing at someone else freaking out over that stupid casket prank." She said as she grabbed Yuka hand and lead her towards the front of the house.

Akane had not seen Ranma yet so decided to make a trip around the parting in search for him. As she walked around she realized that Nabiki had been correct about her not being out of place in her costume. There were quite a few people in racy outfits and while she did notice her fair share of guys checking her out at least they appeared to be keeping their distance and no one seemed to realize who she was. Even Gosunkugi didn't appear to recognize her as she walked by him.

~~OO~~

Ranma had spent the last few hours helping to set up the party with his friends and had to admit that everything looked great. Daisuke had gone all out for this party. Ranma especially loved the pranks they had set up all over the house. It was going to be fun watching Akane walk into them all and he was going to make sure she hit all of them.

Just as the guest were starting to arrive Daisuke had asked Ranma to make a run to the store real quick to grab some more ice. As he made his way back to the party, Ranma watched as Nabiki and some guy made their way towards the house. He knew they were about to come up on the casket so he decided to watch the show. It would be nice to see Nabki jump out of her skin for once. As soon as the casket popped open though, the guy did a roundhouse kick to the dummy sending it flying back down into the casket with the lid slamming shut and Nabiki didn't even twitch. ' _Who the heck is that guy. That should have scarred the daylight out of anyone normal.'_ Ranma thought as he quickly made his was up to the front door to see just who was with Nabiki.

"Well if it isn't the crossdressing freak." Pantyhose Taro said as Ranma approached. "I'm surprised you didn't wear a dress tonight, seeing how you love dressing up as a girl so much."

"Why the hell are you here, Pantyhose-guy." Ranma asked as he glared at his annoying acquaintance.

"Nabiki here invited me." Taro said as he grabbed Nabiki around the waist and pulled her up against his body. "I see your date is a bag of ice. What couldn't get an actual girl to want to come with you, fem-boy?"

Ranma started to lunge for the guy when Nabiki stepped in front of him and said, "Ranma, shouldn't you be off looking for Akane. I am sure she is in there waiting for you to find her."

That halted Ranma in his tracks as he had been dying to see her. He knew if her new outfit was anything like the last one he had better find her quickly before some other guy tried to pick her up. "I gotta put this ice away. I'll deal with you latter, Pantyhose."

Ranma quickly put the ice away and set about looking for Akane. He was surprised on how everyone seemed to go all out on their costumes. He saw everything from Doctors and Nurses to Anime Characters. It made him a bit self conscious about his own which was very basic in comparison. At least it did show off his chiseled chest and arms.

He spotted a girl with short dark hair dressed as Hinata from Naruto that he thought was Akane but quickly realized it wasn't her. He had made two laps around the party before he finally gave up and found Hiroshi and Sayuri. "Hey guys, have either of you seen Akane. I can't find her anywhere."

Sayuri did a quick glance around the room and spotted Akane by the back door talking to a group of girls. "She's over there near the giant spider web." Sayuri said with a quick nod in her direction.

Ranma took off trying not to act too eager in front of his friends which earned him a few laughs as he retreated. Hiroshi and Sayuri decided they couldn't miss this and followed after their friend. As Ranma neared the group of girls he still didn't see Akane, just a bunch of girls talking in quiet whispers. He was attempting to make his way through the group when Nabiki approached with Pantyhose Taro.

"So Ranma," Nabiki asked with a sly smile, "You find Akane yet?" Just as Ranma was about to ask her where Akane was Taro bumped into Ranma causing him to step backwards knocking over one of the girls in the group.

As soon as the girl hit the floor Ranma spun around to help her back to her feet while he shouted at Taro to watch where he was going. Ranma looked down at the girl on the floor and he couldn't help but stare at her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He knew he shouldn't be staring at her when he was supposed to be looking for Akane but he just couldn't look away. She looked up at him with deep brown eyes that seemed to make Ranma's brain shut off as he got sucked into their chocolate pools.

Finally coming to his senses Ranma reached down to offer his hand to the girl still sitting on the floor looking up at him. "Um...sorry about that...can I help you up?" Ranma asked as he took her small hands into his large ones and easily pulled the petite girl back up. Once she was standing she looked down at herself and smoothed out her long sheer Royal skirt that had a slit running up the entire length of her left leg. Along her waist she had a belt of that consisted of beads with coins on the ends that jingled as she fidgeted with her skirt. Her long black hair fell forward as she adjusted the skirt and belt. When she looked back up had Ranma she moved the waist long silky black hair over her shoulder and adjusted the straps of her top. The top was decorated with beads and crystals that sparked in the light and exposed a large amount of cleavage. The bottom of the top made an upside down triangle that fell to the top of the skirt covering the center of her stomach but exposed the sides of her stomach and left her back completely exposed. She had a sheer cloth attached to her arms by a ring on her finger and a band on her upper arms and lower half of her face was covered by a Royal scarf. Her hair and the top of her head were decorated with a headband made of beads and coins much like the belt she wore.

As she stood in front of Ranma she placed her hands on her hips and cocked her hip to one side, which he realized further exposed her left leg beneath the slit of her skirt. Ranma couldn't help but to admire her appearance as she stood in front of him as if she expected him to say something. Ranma adjusted his turban hat and vest as he attempted to form a coherent thought. "Um...are you ok? I didn't mean to knock you over like that, I…..um…."

"It's ok Ranma. You look great by the way in your costume. I am glad you were able to find something to replace your messed up shirt from before." The girl said as her eyes twinkled in amusement at his behavior.

"You….um….you know me? Who are…." Ranma was oblivious to Nabiki's laughter beside him as he cut off what he was about to say as he once again stared into those chocolate eyes and recognition finally hit him. "A...Akane?" He asked hesitantly.

"Well of course silly" Akane giggled as she lowered her head scarf from her face and smacked his shoulder which helped Ranma finally regain control of himself.

"What the hell are you wearing, Akane?" Ranma asked as he looked around for something he could cover the girl with.

"It's a belly dancer costume. I think Nabiki picked it out on purpose just to drive me crazy. I would never have picked this one out on purpose."

"Oh Akane, this was always the costume I planned for you to wear tonight, you just didn't know it till now." Nabiki laughed as she grabbed Taro by the arm and lead him away to the dance floor before her sister could respond.

Akane was so shocked at Nabiki's statement that she had planned all along for her to wear the belly dancer costume that she didn't know what to say. "How does she always get things to work out just like she wants." She said to herself as Ranma continued to stare at Akane but now from behind.

The view from the back was almost as appealing as the front Ranma quickly realized. Her entire upper back was exposed except for the thin straps the top and the sheer cloth that was attached to her arms. Her sheer skirt hung low on her hips and hugged her curves and butt perfectly. Once again Ranma was forced to acknowledge how much Akane had 'matured' over the past few years they had known each other. After seeing her in this outfit he promised he would never call her uncute or a thick thighed girl again.

As Akane spun back around Ranma snapped back to attention and stopped his blatant staring as he attempted to be his normal indifferent self. "You never said if you like my outfit, Ranma." Akane asked as she slowly moved closer to him making sure to exaggerate the sway of her hips.

"Um….yeah it looks ok….I guess." He said as he attempted to not blush as his attention was once again brought to her hips due to the jingling of the coins and beads on her belt as she walked.

Akane knew he was just trying to play it cool as she saw how he had looked at her before he knew it was her in the outfit. She figured if Ranma wasn't able to tell it was her before she spoke then as long as she kept the head scarf covering her face no one else would be able to figure out it was her either. "Let me guess, Nabiki helped to alter your costume as well, didn't she Ranma." Akane asked as she adjusted his vest.

"Yeah she did. Guess she really wanted us to have matching outfits. Do you think she had something to do with Ukyo and Shampoo showing up right when we were trying our our original outfits."

"Knowing her, yeah. I just don't know what she has to gain from all this." Akane said as she shot a look back to her sister on the dance floor. "So Ranma, what should we do first?"


	14. Chapter 14 - To Dance or Not To Dance

**1/29/18**

 **So sorry I haven't finished this story yet. Life kind of got away from me the last few months with family, work and the holiday seasons. But I feel like I am getting my groove back and should finish this up soon. I hope you all are still interested in it even though we are WAY past the season. Let me know what you think**

 **~~OO~~**

"So Ranma, what should we do first?"

Ranma looked around the room. It seemed like most of the guest had arrived by now and he knew that Daisuke had some 'activities' planned once everyone was here, so he decided to show Akane around while they waited. "You hungry? We made this really cool drink earlier and the spider cookies are great."

As they made their way for the food table they noticed Ukyo and Ryoga walk in dressed as a cheerleader and football player. It was the first time either Ranma or Akane had seen Ukyo since their fight in the dojo. "Hey Ranma," Akane said as she grabbed his arm to stop him "Isn't that Ukyo and Ryoga that just walked in. Should we go over and say hi?"

"Yeah, I think that is them. I didn't think Ukyo would want to show up tonight, but I guess she dragged Pig-Boy here with her. Yeah let's go say hi."

As Akane and Ranma approached their friends they noticed Ryoga yelling at Daisuke about his casket prank. "Well how was I supposed to know that!" Ryoga yelled. "If someone or something jumps out and attacks me I'm going to attack right back. How was I supposed to know it was just a dummy."

"Man Ryoga, remind me later to show you around so you don't go and break any more of my stuff." Daisuke said as she shook his head.

"Hey guys." Ranma said to announce them. "So what did Ryoga go and break now?"

"He completely trashed the casket and dummy outside." Daisuke said as he turned his attention to Ranma. "We need to take him on a 'tour' of the place so he doesn't go and mess up the rest of the stuff. Come on Ranma we may need your help to restrain him."

"Yeah sure, be right back Akane. Good to see you Ukyo." Ranma said as he left to follow his friends. The girls watched the boys leave and heard Ranma messing with Ryoga about his outfit. "How the heck did Ukyo get you to wear that getup? You should have just come dressed as a little black pig. Heck knows you got the perfect outfit….."

As the boys turned the corner Ukyo and Akane shook their heads at their crazy friends."I swear I don't know why Ranma is always picking on Ryoga like that." Once everyone else had left the two girls settled into an uneasy silence as they stared at each other trying to figure out what to say to each other. "You look really cute in your cheerleader outfit, Ukyo. I love the pom poms."

"Thanks, Akane. You look really good too in your…." Ukyo struggled for exactly what Akane was dressed as.

"Belly Dancer. Nabiki had to get me a new outfit at the last minute since….well you know, my last one got kind of messed up." Akane said trying to downplay their fight earlier that week that trashed her costume.

"Yeah about that Akane. I just wanted to say sorry. I shouldn't have just attacked you like that and ruined your outfit. I was just so upset about Ranma blowing me off and then making plans with you instead. I just….well...I was just hurt and I was mad, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Akane could tell Ukyo was truly sorry and didn't want to make this more difficult her her than it already was so she cut off her friend. "I know Ukyo, it's ok. Ranma can be quite a jerk sometimes and that makes all of us do some crazy stuff sometimes. Can we be friends?" Akane asked hoping to finally put their rivalry behind them and start a true friendship. She had always liked Ukyo in the past, well except for when she was attacking her or destroying her home, and she would honestly like to be friends.

"Yeah I'd like that Akane." Ukyo said with a small smile as she hugged Akane. "I know Ranma isn't interested in me like I wish he was and I promise to back off. But," Ukyo continued as she pulled away from Akane to look her in the eyes, "if Ranma ever changes his mind and wants to be with me in the future I will not hesitate in the slightest at the chance to be with him. I still love him and think he would be happier with me, then with you. But I will respect his wishes and try not to interfere with you guys"

Akane was a little taken aback at Ukyo's statement which was so contrary to what she had been saying. As she stared at her and struggled to find the words to say the boys returned. "Man Ukyo I can't believe you were able to convince this guy to come with you tonight, but I am glad you decided to come." Ranma said as clapped a hand at his oldest friend's shoulder. "I've missed you the last few days. I hope we can get back to being friends again."

"Of course we're friends, Ranma." Ukyo tried to laugh off his comment as she reached for Ryoga to make a get away. She didn't think she would be able to witness first hand Ranma and Akane being all 'friendly' with each other. So instead she opted to head to the food table. "Come on Ryoga. I'm thirsty. Let's go get a drink. See you guys later."

"Well I guess everything's all good now." Ranma said as he watched his friends walk off.

"Yeah….all good….." Akane said still confused at how Ukyo seemed to want to be friends but on the other hand would always be waiting for a chance to reinstate her claim on Ranma. "Let's go dance Ranma." Akane said as she tried to lead him outback.

As Ranma and Akane walked outside they notice the dance floor and the surrounding area was very couple heavy. There were a few small groups of friends dancing together but for the most part it was all couples. Their school didn't have dances and neither Ranma nor Akane were much of club goes so they were both very shocked as they took in the scene before them. All the couples on the dance floor were bumping and grinding in some very provocative ways and the people not dancing weren't in much better situations. The couples who weren't dancing had found a seat to share as they made out. It appeared to be an endless sea of teenagers making the most of a parent free scene.

Akane and Ranma shifted uncomfortable as they scanned the crowd, trying to put some space between themselves. "So...um...you want to dance or….something?" Akane asked as she avoided eye contact with Ranma.


	15. Chapter 15 - Party Crasher

**10/18/18 ~ I hope you like the next chapter. Getting close to wrapping this one up. Sorry again it is taking so long. Every time I get in the groove the Kids won't leave me alone or my internet goes down.**

 **~~OO~~**

 **"** **So….um….you want to dance or….something?" Akane asked as she avoided eye contact with Ranma.**

 **"** **Um...welll…." Ranma stuttered as he watch the couples grinding on the dance floor and tried to imagine him and Akane dancing like that. His face turned as red as his vest and he shifted uncomfortably. There was no way he would ever be able to do that with Akane in front of so many people. "Maybe we should wait a bit….I know Daisuke wanted to have a dance contest later. We…..we don't want to wear ourselves out to soon. Maybe we could just grab a seat and…..um…." Ranma trailed off as he took in the scene of the bystanders. Everyone was coupled up and engaged in a major make out session.** **'** ** _What in the world has gotten into everyone out here?"_** **Ranma thought as he chanced a look at Akane. "On second thought. maybe I should show you around the place first." Ranma said as he turned his back on the scene of hormone crazed teenagers and looked at Akane.**

 **"** **Yeah…. I think a tour of the house sound good." Akane said as she started blush. She looked down at the ground and shifted uncomfortably under Ranma's gaze.**

 **Ranma watched as Akane's cheeks turned a light pink and the only sound he registered was the slight jingle of her dress as she moved. As he stood there watching her he noticed that she was absolutely breathtaking in the light of the setting sun. The light seemed to dance around her as it bounced off the coins and bells adorning her belt and headpiece, and once again he found himself drawn towards her. As he took a step closer towards her, she looked up at him and he found himself unable to break eye contact. He felt as if he there was no one else around for miles and he could get lost in her eyes for hours.**

 **Slowly he reached forward and took her hand. They both looked down at their intertwined hands as they felt a bolt of electricity shoot between them. They had touch many times before over the years and even held hands once or twice but this time felt much more intense. It felt as if their whole world depended on never letting go of each other .**

 **Ranma took a deep breath as he slowly looked back at Akane. They both appeared frozen in time as they held hands. "You know….um…" Ranma said as he inched closer to Akane and slowly began to speak, wishing desperately not to ruin this moment with some dumb comment. "It…..it's a nice night….maybe we should just sit and relax for a bit."**

 **"** **I…..I think I would like that." Akane said as her blush grew and she finally broke eye contact with Ranma.**

 **Before he realized what he was doing Ranma reached up and tucked Akane's hair behind her ear and then stood there holding the side of her head. Akane leaned into his hand and closed her eyes while she sighed. Ranma held his breath as he took in the feel of her warm cheek and silky hair. Slowly he started to pull her head toward him.**

 **~~OO~~**

 **Sayuri and Hiroshi were watching the pair outside from their spot just inside the house with Nabiki and Taro. "It seems to be going well so far." Sayuri said as she took a drink of the punch. "She hasn't yelled or hit him yet."**

 **"** **Man did you see his jaw hit the floor when he realized that was Akane in the outfit? I don't think I have ever seen Ranma at such a loss for words before." Hiroshi said as he looked over to Sayuri and Nabiki. "How the hell did you guys manage to get her to wear that costume?"**

 **"** **My sister really isn't so difficult to handle as you all think. You can get her do just about anything when you make her think that she is actually the one calling the shots." Nabiki said as she turned to lean against the glass door to look at the rest of the group. "I knew that was the perfect outfit the second I saw it in the store, but I knew she would never pick it if we left it up to her. So I quickly purchased it when we had her trying on everything and I let her pick out her own outfit that day. I knew it wouldn't last till the day of the party with all those maniacs that follow the 2 of them around. So I just had to wait for the perfect time to give her that outfit and let her realize it was either wear that or miss the party altogether. And there is no way she was going to miss this party after Ranma asked her to go with him."**

 **"** **Why the hell do you guys care so much about that crossdressing freak!" Taro huffed as he was starting to grow impatient with all the standing around. "Nabiki, I thought we were here to have a good time, not to stalk your sister and the freak."**

 **"** **Now, now Taro, baby," Nabiki cooed in his ear as she wiggled up against him. "Just another few minutes and we can get back to our night. I need to make sure Ranma doesn't do something stupid to screw up all my hard work this week." She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, "I promise to make this up to you later." She licked the outside of his ear as he squeezed her closer to him**

 **"** **Oh my goodness! Nabiki, you gotta see this!" Sayuri squealed as she pressed up against the glass. "I think Ranma is finally going to make a move!"**

~~OO~~

"What with that stupid Ranma. Shampoo tell him he go to party with her. How he leave for party without Shampoo." Shampoo mused as she jumped from roof to roof to find the party.

"Shampoo my darling!" Mouse said as he followed his Amazon princess. "Maybe we should just give up on this party and have a night alone. You don't need Ranma, I can be your big strong Tarzan."

"Yuck!' Shampoo spat. "Go home you stupid duck. Shampoo no need you tag along on her date with Ranma. Only Tarzan for Shampoo be Ranma." She said as she sped off leaving Mouse behind.

Within moments she arrived in front of a house lit up with strobe lights. There were people hanging all around and music playing from the backyard. ' _This must be place.'_ Shampoo thought as she made her way around back. ' _Ranma be too too happy when he see Shampoo find him.'_

With that she leapt over the wall and landed in the middle of a dance floor among a crowd of confused party goers.

~~OO~~

It was as if Ranma's hand had a mind of it's own. First it had reached out for Akane's hand. Then, it had managed to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear and just stayed there against her cheek and tangled in her hair. Now it was slowing pulling Akane closer towards him. What was he to do. She was so close he could smell the sweet scent that was all Akane. He closed his eyes as he took a moment to breath in her scent. It was an intoxicating blend of soap and coconut shampoo. She smelled sweet and tropical yet like a fresh summer breeze at the same time. They were so close now he could feel her soft breath against his lips. He licked his lips as his heart pounded in his chest and he struggled to take a breath.

Just as their lips were about to meet they heard the screams from the dance floor that jerked them back to reality. They both looked back at the dance floor only to see Shampoo crouched on the ground in the middle staring daggers in their direction.

 **"Oh Shit" Ranma moaned.**


End file.
